Fleeing war twice: Thouraya’s journey back to Syria

DCA Syria

In September 2024, intense violence broke out in Balbak, Lebanon, near the Syrian border. Among those caught in the chaos were 26-year-old Thouraya Al Katham, along with her four children.

26-year-old Thouraya with their four children in an informal settlement near Ar-Raqqa.

Fearing for their lives, they made a difficult decision: to flee back to Syria – the very country they had escaped from in 2016.

“The most important thing was getting our children away from the fighting. Every day, we heard bombs and saw dust rising from explosions. No child should grow up in that,” says Thouraya.

The family boarded an overcrowded bus and fled with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Seventeen hours later, they arrived at the outskirts of Ar-Raqqa, but had nowhere to go.

Thouraya and her mother with her son in the informal settlement near Ar-Raqqa.

“We slept in my uncle’s tent for three months. The nights were cold, and we only had small branches for warmth,” says Thouraya.

Finally, DCA provided them with a tent and blankets, giving them at least some stability in their new reality.

“Adults can get used to being cold and tired. But children don’t understand. They just cry,” she says.

Now, as she watches her children adjust, her biggest hope is simple.

“I want them to have a better life than I did to go to school and build a future. Actually,” she pauses, reconsidering her answer, ” I just want them to be be able to play and smile.”