22-05-2025
Many of Syria's diaspora are not yet ready to go home
'I will sell all of this gold and move back to Syria by the spring,' Ousama Sabbagh enthused in his jewellery shop in a majority-Syrian district in the Turkish city of Bursa, south of Istanbul. That was five months ago. Today his shop looks little different than it did then. Mr Sabbagh now wants to move in September, cheered by President Donald Trump's recent pledge to lift America's sanctions against Syria. That decision has given new hope to Syrians abroad, says Dr Haytham Alhamwi of the Syrian British Consortium, a lobby. Business folk in the diaspora think sanctions relief and international aid are vital for rebuilding the country and making it safe.
