After more than a decade of war, and half a century of repressive rule under Bashar al-Assad and his father, Syrians have a new ruler and a new future. Michael Safi spent a week travelling around the country, speaking to people about their surging hopes and joy – but also their fears of how fragile this peace could prove to be.

Driving from Lebanon to Damascus with a family, he heard about the painful toll the years of war and repression had taken on them: a father killed, a brother disappeared, a sister jailed. But they also told him how optimistic they still were for this moment of history.

In Damascus, he discovered normal life had begun creeping back – but that global jihadists were still manning checkpoints. And he spoke to an aid worker who said his British citizenship had been revoked and who could soon be a new Syrian national.

Outside the city, however, Michael found that the Alawites, Assad’s religious sect, were already facing bloody reprisals. But although many worry about what the new government of former jihadists might do, as one civil society activist told him: “Before the regime fell, we didn’t have space to move. Everything was really dark. Now we have much to do in our country and I’m seeing a space to move.”