Mohammad Marwan has been struggling to rebuild his life after being released from Syria's Saydnaya prison a year ago. Arrested in 2018 for fleeing military service, he endured beatings, electric shocks, and severe hunger. Since his release, he has received treatment for tuberculosis and attended therapy sessions to overcome the effects of his ordeal. His story reflects Syria's broader struggle to heal after the fall of the Assad regime. The country faces ongoing challenges, including sectarian violence, economic instability and tensions with Kurdish-led forces. On Monday, thousands of Syrians took to the streets to celebrate the anniversary of the regime's fall.

Syria's new security forces checked IDs and searched cars in the central city of Homs a day after protests by members of the Alawite minority erupted in gunfire and stirred fears that the country's fragile peace could break down. A tense calm prevailed Thursday after checkpoints were set up throughout the country's third-largest city, which has a mixed population of Sunni and Shia Muslims, Alawites and Christians. The security forces are controlled by the former insurgent group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which led the charge that unseated former President Bashar Assad.