Türkiye’s border crossings with Syria are unusually busy nowadays in the aftermath of the fall of the oppressive Assad regime in the country’s southern neighbor. A festive mood is ubiquitous among refugees hauling luggage as migration authority clerks process their paperwork for crossings.

Some are worried about the situation in the country, which was challenged by more than a decade of war that impacted the economy and left infrastructure in ruins in places. Still, returns gather pace with people eager to reunite with their friends, families and, most importantly, the homes where they were born.

So far, more than 7,000 people returned to Syria from Türkiye, which once hosted two-thirds of the total Syrian refugee population in the world. At its peak, number of Syrian refugees were more than 3.8 million in Türkiye. Some preferred to cross into Europe illegally in pursuit of better lives. In the early years of the Syrian civil war, Türkiye housed thousands of refugees in tent camps and "container cities" in its southeastern cities, but over time, most refugees settled elsewhere, setting up new lives, particularly in big cities in western Türkiye. Muhammad Bashir Shamiyya is among them. Defecting from the Syrian regime army, he fled Damascus and took shelter in Istanbul. Since 2018, he has been running a greengrocer’s in the city. But he will soon join the growing number of returnees. Shamiyya told Anadolu Agency (AA) that he decided to continue his family’s business in Istanbul, Syria, after reuniting with them eight years after his defection and initial settlement in Idlib, Syria.

"Türkiye is a beautiful country. We never encountered any hostile stance from people. All I have seen here since I arrived is the goodness of people. May Allah bless them. They shared their meals with us. We will never forget what they’ve done for us," Shamiyya says. He said they waited for "this day to come for 14 years." "I remember a friend telling me that we would never be able to go back to Damascus as we were fleeing to Idlib. I told him only Allah knows whether it will happen. Then, we saw the victory," he said.

The moment he arrived home to Syria from Türkiye, Ahmed al-Kassem held his sister in a tight embrace, tears streaming down their faces. They hadn't seen each other in more than a decade and now were reunited only days after the fall of Bashar Assad. But soon, the former refugee’s joy was tinged by uncertainty about the future of his war-torn homeland. His old house in the city of Aleppo was too damaged to live in, and the family home he had brought his wife and children to had no electricity or running water.

"If I had known, I don’t know if I would have come," the 38-year-old al-Kassem told the Associate Press (AP). "Our life in Türkiye was not perfect, but what we are seeing here is a disaster."

They leave behind a life they built in Türkiye over the past 11 years. Four of his five children were born in Türkiye and know Syria and their relatives here only through video chats. For al-Kassem and his wife, it’s a chance to rejoin their family, resume their lives, and introduce their kids, three girls and two boys aged 7 to 14, to their Syrian heritage.

At Türkiye's Öncüpınar border crossing, they waited in line for hours and then had to hand over to Turkish officials the "temporary protection" documents that certified their refugee status and right to be in the country.

On the Syrian side of the border, known as Bab al-Salameh, they unloaded their belongings, including a carpet and a washing machine, from the Turkish truck and placed them into another truck and van.

For an hour, they rode across northwest Syria until they reached Aleppo’s Masaken Hanano district. By now, it was after nightfall, and the neighborhood was shrouded in darkness with no electricity. They passed buildings destroyed or damaged years ago in fighting. Using the light on his mobile phone, al-Kassem led his family down a dark alleyway and found his sister’s one-story house. It was intact but dark. In front of the house, he had his tearful reunion with his sister. The kids hugged their cousins for the first time. But the initial reality was hard. When AP journalists met al-Kassem again three days later, he had sent his children to another relative’s house because his sister’s home had no electricity or running water. The relative’s house at least had a few hours of each every day, he said.

Al-Kassem wondered if he made the right decision to bring his family back so soon. "When I saw my country liberated, I got up and returned with my children to introduce them to our homeland and show them their country," al-Kassem said. "But when my children came here and saw the situation, they were really surprised. They didn’t expect this."

In Türkiye, they had water, electricity, the internet –"all life’s essentials were available," he said. "But here, as you can see, we have been here for days without water. I have no idea where I will go with my children." His 14-year-old daughter, Rawiya, said she was pleased to be reunited with her relatives. But she was worried about starting school in Aleppo after years in Turkish schools. She speaks Arabic but can’t read or write it. "It will be difficult for me to start learning Arabic from zero," said Rawiya. "Despite this, I’m happy to be in Syria."

Rawiya was 4 when her family fled Aleppo in 2013. At the time, anti-regime forces held the eastern districts of the city and fighting was ferocious, with Assad’s forces holding the western half. A mosque behind al-Kassem’s house was repeatedly hit by shelling and the day the shelling hit his house, he decided it was time to go.

They settled in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaraş, where al-Kassem worked in construction, as he had in Aleppo. His other children were born and raised there, becoming fluent in Turkish while speaking little Arabic.

Once a vital economic hub and Syria’s largest city, Aleppo was ravaged by years of fighting until the regime forces, with help from Russia and Iran, finally recaptured the entire city in 2016. Much of the eastern section remains in ruins, and many of the buildings are still concrete skeletons, with a few partially rebuilt by residents.

He reflected on his life in Turkey. They faced hardships there, including the COVID-19 pandemic and a devastating 2023 earthquake. Now they will face hardships returning here, he said. "But I have to adapt to the situation," al-Kassem said. " Why? Because it still is my homeland, my home, and our people are here."

For its part, Türkiye, which underlined that refugees can continue staying until political and economic stability is fully achieved in Syria, seeks to mobilize the international community to help rebuild and recover the war-torn country. Earlier this week, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that Syria "can only recover through the assistance of neighboring countries, international community."

"Sixty-one years of oppression and darkness ended, but the Baathist regime left a trainwreck behind. We are talking about a Syria tired of 13 years of conflict, a Syria where about 1 million people were killed and half of the population is displaced," Erdoğan said at a news conference with visiting European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen. "Syria should be swiftly recovered through the strong support of its neighbors, friendly countries, the international community including the European Union and international bodies. The international community failed to convey sufficient support to the people of Syria while they were being slaughtered in the past 13 years. Now they can compensate for it through support for reconstruction and recovery in Syria," he added.

Back in Öncüpınar, 30-year-old Ahmed Eliyd saw off his brother to Syria as he weighed returning home one day. Eliyd, a father of four, took shelter in Gaziantep near the Turkish-Syrian border four years ago. "I cannot describe how I feel after the Baathist regime fell. I want to kiss the ground in Syria. I missed Syria so much," he told AA. For now, the only obstacle to his return is the illness of his mother. Once she recovers in Türkiye, he plans to return home within a few months. A former resident of Aleppo says it will be a bittersweet occasion for him. "I will look for my friends if they are still there. There will be crying likely because I saw on the news that many houses are devastated," he says.

Muhammad Oso, 27, was a teenager when he fled Aleppo to Türkiye. "We are grateful to Türkiye for admitting us. Things were fine here," he said as he waits to cross back into his country at Öncüpınar. Oso said his family had a few homes in Aleppo and some were devastated in the war. "I will finally see my neighborhood again. I want to travel all across Syria," he told AA. "We now expect Turkish people to visit us. I will be glad to host them," he says.