A dawn has broken over my homeland…

A dawn has broken over my homeland… a dawn that shakes off the dust of heavy years and washes the face of Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, and Hama with all the colors of life.

For four decades, we counted our breaths under the roof of fear; today, we count our chants under the domes of freedom.

For four decades, we hid behind walls of silence; today, we raise our voices in the public squares: *My homeland is free.*

Today, we write with our own hands a new page for a new republic—one with no place for the informant, the detainee, or the exiled.

Today, our children head to schools carrying books of knowledge, not the orders of tyrants.

Today, our flag flutters at the United Nations building, inscribed with the blood of martyrs: *Here is Free Syria.*

Yesterday, we were received at the world's airports as lost refugees; today, our delegation is welcomed as bearers of hope and a message of life.

Yesterday, the passport was hidden out of fear of questioning; today, it is held high as a badge of honor on our chests.

Yesterday, we carried our homeland in memories; today, we carry it in the present and the future.

Praise be to Allah, Who showed us the day of deliverance.

Praise be to Allah, Who gathered the people of Syria from exiles and borders, returning as one people (save for a few) in one homeland.

Praise be to Allah that our passport has become a symbol of pride, not an accusation—a gateway of presence, not absence.

Congratulations to you, my homeland, on your celebration of freedom!

Congratulations to your people for defeating the jailer, breaking the chains, and releasing the doves of peace in your sky!

Congratulations to us all to say at the top of our voices: *Here is Free Syria—it cannot be replicated, sold, or bought.*

**Syria is Free.**

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