After the fall of the Assad regime, the country now faces challenges from Turkey, Israel and the enmity of the west

• Robin Yassin-Kassab is co-author of Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War and English editor of the Isis Prisons Museum

The liberation of Syria was long hoped for, but unexpected. Over the past weeks, Syrians have experienced the full range of human emotions, with the exception of boredom. On the first two Assad-free Fridays, millions of celebrants swelled the streets to chant and sing and speak formerly forbidden truths. There was a huge presence of women, who had been less visible during the years of war. Relatives are meeting again and assuaging their pain as hundreds of thousands return from the camps of exile.

At the same time, millions are having to accept at last that their loved ones have been tortured to death. It now appears that most of the 130,000 lost in Bashar al-Assad’s prisons (a bare minimum figure) are dead. Dozens of mass graves have already been discovered.

Robin Yassin-Kassab is the co-author of Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War and the English editor of the Isis Prisons Museum