Enab Baladi – Besan Khalaf
“I was raised in a tense atmosphere; I only remember being displaced from one area to another, fleeing from conflicts,” said Mohammad Omran, a second-year business administration student, to Enab Baladi.
Omran added, “Syria for me is a nightmare that steals all my dreams. Of course, I don’t hate my country, but it lacks the simplest necessities of life. I don’t know now if it will become a safe place for dreams.”
Omran, who does not know the Syria his father talks about, sums it up by saying it only represents “destruction, death, and crises” in his memory.
The generation that lived through the Syrian war, especially those born in the last two decades, has not had the chance to see the Syria their parents talk about; all they have experienced are the sounds of gunfire, images of blood and death, and the horrors of displacement.
According to a report published by UNICEF in 2020, around 4.8 million children have been born in Syria since the onset of the conflict, and one million Syrian refugee children have been born in neighboring countries, as children continue to face the devastating consequences of war.
No clear future
Rama al-Said shares Mohammad Omran’s view as she awaits her high school exams to seek an opportunity to study abroad.
The girl said, “There is no clear future in this country; there are social, educational, and cultural disparities between us and our peers abroad.” For this reason, she wants to emigrate in search of a future that meets modern requirements.
She added, “Of course, Syria is my beloved country, but it does not love me,” questioning what the future holds after the fall of the Assad regime, as there is no room for repeating the pain, “and it cannot be easily overcome,” as she put it, having lost her father due to the bombardment of the Assad regime on Moadamiyet al-Sham in 2015.
Generation of displacement camps
Throughout the Syrian revolution, a generation has grown up knowing Syria only through the refugee tents in camps inside and outside the country.
Ali al-Zaki al-Ali spent his childhood and youth in al-Hilal camp in the Aleppo countryside, experiencing tough conditions that deprived him of education, yet he still believes that the future of Syria is bright.
“We lived through difficult conditions and were deprived of a lot; we hope that reality improves,” al-Ali said, having been injured in his foot due to a landmine explosion in Tal Rifaat.
Young people born and raised in camps in northern Syria suffer from a severe lack of educational opportunities, as there are about 930 displacement camps for Syrians lacking educational centers, with over 190,000 students not receiving education, according to the Syria Response Coordination Group (SRCG).
Difficulty of integration
Many members of the new millennium or those born abroad know nothing about Syria except what is conveyed to them through their parents’ stories, as is the case with Sabiha Othman, who said, “I don’t know what Syria is; I have heard about it from my parents.”
Othman’s family moved from Homs to Canada when she was 13 years old, and when she returned with her family after the regime’s fall, “everything was strange” for her.
She talks about the living conditions and the lack of services, going as far as to say, “I was bullied because of my poor Arabic; I couldn’t integrate into society in Syria.”
Loss, fear, and identity confusion
Young people who spent their childhood amid war have not been granted the right to develop normally; instead, they have absorbed fear and loss from an early age, which reflects on their psychological and social identities and life choices, according to social expert Hiba Arnous, in an interview with Enab Baladi.
Arnous added that one of the greatest challenges facing this generation is a profound sense of alienation, whether inside the homeland or outside of it.
She continued that Syrian society itself has experienced significant social disintegration due to displacement and asylum, families have split, local identities have changed, and trust in institutions has dissipated.
All this has created a general sense of lack of belonging, with many young people feeling they have no stable cultural reference or a homeland that genuinely embraces them.
As for those born or raised in host countries, they face the duality of identity and integration challenges, which exacerbates their feelings of loss and uncertainty.
“What we need today is not to judge this generation, but to embrace and understand it. The war generation is not a lost generation; rather, it is a burdened one, waiting for someone to extend a hand of support for mental and social care. We must invest in this generation through psychological support programs and their societal reintegration,” according to Arnous.
Possible practical solutions
According to social expert Hiba Arnous, there are steps that can be adopted to address the psychological issues of youth related to integration or negative feelings toward their country or peers, including:
Creating safe and open dialogue spaces, organizing workshops or meetings (virtual or physical) between the generation that lived through the war and within camps, and the generation that grew up in host countries to share stories and experiences without judgment. It is preferable that these workshops are supervised by neutral individuals aware of the various backgrounds. Joint cultural or artistic projects, such as producing short films, plays, podcasts, or books that integrate stories from both sides, as art is a powerful means to build empathy and mutual understanding. Volunteer or social activities through initiatives targeting youth interests (environmental, educational, community), these activities break down barriers and enhance the feeling of belonging to one community. Promoting the concept of a complex identity instead of trying to unify identity, recognizing it as a legitimate multiple identity: Syrian, migrant, Damascene… Psychological support programs and emotional release, especially for the generation that lived through harsh experiences in asylum, who may feel isolated or rejected from the Syrian interior. Involving opinion leaders, as people follow those they trust; if leaders or influential individuals show acceptance, it reflects on the community. There should be a selection of influential youth from those who remained in the homeland or grew up in camps or host countries, and training them in cultural mediation skills, supporting them to be bridges of communication within their communities.
Syria’s war generation: Youth speak out on disconnection and struggles to belong Enab Baladi.
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