Days after Assad’s ouster, some Syrian refugees are going back home

Turkey, which hosts three million Syrians, has extended the opening hours of the Cilvegozu border gate near the Syrian city of Aleppo seized by rebels at the end of November.

Syrians lined up at the Turkish border on Wednesday to head home after rebels ousted President Bashar al-Assad, speaking of their expectations for a better life following what was for many a decade of hardship in Turkey.

“We have no one here. We are going back to Latakia, where we have family,” said Mustafa as he prepared to enter Syria with his wife and three sons at the Cilvegozu border gate in southern Turkey. Dozens more Syrians were waiting to cross.

Mustafa fled Syria in 2012, a year after the conflict there began, to escape conscription into Assad’s army. For years he did unregistered jobs in Turkey earning less than the minimum wage, he said.

“Now there’s a better Syria. God willing, we will have a better life there,” he said, expressing confidence in the new leadership in Syria as he watched over the family’s belongings, clothes packed into sacks and a television set.

The civil war that grew out of a 2011 uprising against Assad killed hundreds of thousands of people and drove millions abroad.

Turkey, which hosts three million Syrians, has extended the opening hours of the Cilvegozu border gate near the Syrian city of Aleppo seized by rebels at the end of November.

A second border gate was opened at nearby Yayladagi in Hatay on Tuesday.

Around 350-400 Syrians a day were already crossing back to rebel-held areas of Syria this year before the opposition rebellion began two weeks ago. The numbers have almost doubled since, Ankara says, anticipating a surge now Assad has gone.