A Syrian woman, whose grandfather, father and two brothers were detained by the army nearly 12 years ago, told the BBC that it was “devastating” that her loved ones remained missing, despite the country’s worst prison being emptied.
Heba Abdul Hakim Qaswad, 24, from the city of Homs, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Now, miles away from this most brutal prison, we gather around the screens, our hearts suspended between hope and despair.”
“We scan every face in the footage, looking for traces of our loved ones. It's the only thing we can do.”
On Sunday, as rebel forces overran the country's capital and declared the end of Bashar al-Assad's rule, families rushed to Saydnaya prison outside Damascus, where political opponents were reportedly detained, tortured and executed.
But with rescue workers now concluding their search for potential detainees in the prison, some families are facing renewed suffering.
“Now freedom rings like a bell, too loud for ears that are accustomed to silence,” Ms. Qaswad said.
“Now, our hearts are racing, we have this anticipation and joy and pain as we wait for the moment when we can finally embrace them, finally free, but I don’t know if we will ever be able to see them again, because now we are torn between finding answers or not knowing at all.”
Ms. Qaswad was 12 years old when she saw soldiers dragging the male members of her family from their home in the middle of the night on January 28, 2013. They were among 48 members of her family who were arrested in a raid, she said.
She added that one of her brothers was actually killed while fighting Assad's army in 2012, during the civil war that broke out after the Arab Spring protests in 2011.
“No words can describe the intense pain that consumed us at that time,” she said.
She added that she had not seen her male family members since then, but the released prisoners said they heard their names from inside Saydnaya.
Her grandfather, born in 1939, is elderly, while her father was born in 1962, and her siblings in 1989 and 1994.
Mrs. Qaswad said that after the fall of Assad's rule and the liberation of the detainees, her family feels “a mixture of laughter and tears.”
She added: “We don't know what will happen next. All we can do is keep searching.” He added: “We hope to regain this spark of happiness in our lives again, because it was swept away the day they were taken away.”
