BEIRUT, Lebanon: In the northern Lebanon town of Chekka, Suheil Hamawi received a heartfelt welcome as he returned home Monday after languishing for 33 years in deposed Syrian president Bashar Assad鈥檚 jails.
A day earlier, as Assad fled the country, Islamist-led rebels captured the Syrian capital and released thousands of prisoners from his notorious jail system.
鈥淭oday I feel like I can breathe again. The best thing in this world is freedom,鈥� Hamawi, 61, told AFP, visibly tearing up from joy.
Hamawi鈥檚 release gave renewed hope to hundreds of families in Lebanon who have demanded to know of the fate of thousands of prisoners believed to have disappeared at the hands of Syrian troops who entered Lebanon shortly after the outbreak of the 1975-1990 civil war.
Hamawi said he was moved from one prison to another, even spending time in the notorious Saydnaya facility where he wrote poetry, before ending up in a jail in the coastal Latakia region.
His love for his wife Josephine Homsi and for his son fueled him during his time in prison.
鈥淚 was far away but she was my source of strength, the other was my son,鈥� he said.
Homsi was overjoyed to be reunited with her husband.
鈥淭hirty-three years ago, they came to this house, knocked on our door one evening and told my husband: we need to talk to you. Then he disappeared for 11 years,鈥� Homsi said.
After she managed to track him down, she spent more than a decade visiting him in Syrian prisons, she said, hoping they would one day be reunited.
Rights groups say thousands of men, women and children disappeared at the hands of Hafez Assad, Bashar鈥檚 late father, during Lebanon鈥檚 civil war.
Hamawi鈥檚 twin Nicolas told AFP seeing his long lost brother had given him a new sense of purpose.
鈥淭oday, we鈥檝e been reborn,鈥� he said, adding the pair now felt 鈥渢ruly like twins鈥� again.
鈥淢y brother is more than a hero. He endured life in prison, and today he has returned to live in freedom like he has been longing to for 33 years,鈥� he said.
For three decades, Syria was a dominant military and political force in Lebanon, before withdrawing its troops in 2005 under international pressure after the assassination of Lebanese ex-prime minister Rafic Hariri.
鈥淚 waited a lot, I suffered a lot, but I achieved freedom,鈥� Hamawi said.