After a decade in Turkey, a Syrian refugee rushes to return home, but reality hits

Associated Press

ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — After more than a decade as a refugee in Turkey, Ahmed al-Kassem decided to bring his family back home to Syria only days after the fall of Bashar Assad. He wanted back to his old life and to introduce his children — all but one of whom were born in Turkey — to Syria. But reality quickly hit when they saw the destruction in their home city of Aleppo. So far, some 7,600 refugees have returned from Turkey and thousands more from Lebanon. It’s a dive into the unknown in a new Syria still being formed.