In this Start Here On-The-Road, Sandra Gathmann travels to Syria to find out how the country is confronting its past and how people are trying to rebuild their lives after years of war.

Up to 300,000 people in Syria are missing and there are thought to be as many as 66 mass graves across the country. We meet Wafa Ali Mustafa as she faces up to the reality that her father, who’s been missing for 12 years, is most likely dead.

We go inside the newly opened Syrian Identification Centre, where forensic scientists are carrying out painstaking work to identify bodies. And in an exclusive interview, we introduce one of Syria’s “shadow warriors” – a lawyer who risked his life to help smuggle out 1.3 million documents, creating an archive of evidence that links war crimes to regime officials at the highest levels, right up to Bashar al-Assad himself.

Start Here also hears from a man who says ten of his relatives were taken by a pro-Assad militia. He’s distraught that the militia’s commander appears to have been given amnesty by the new Syrian government and delivers a stark ultimatum: “Either the government gives me justice or I take justice myself.” His story is a powerful reminder of how fragile the situation remains in Syria and how complex the process of transitional justice is.

Since the fall of the Assad regime, there have been outbreaks of sectarian violence in Syria’s coastal areas and in Suweyda, in the south. Violence escalated when government forces – or fighters aligned with them – became involved, raising difficult questions about whether the new government, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, is willing and able to deliver justice fairly.

More than a million Syrians have returned to their country in the last year. We witness the joy and emotion of families at Damascus airport, who are finally being reunited after years of separation.

As Syria looks towards the future, there’s hope and optimism – but also tension, uncertainty, and an urgent demand for crimes of the past to be dealt with. Start Here is on the ground to explore it all.

Presenter: Sandra Gathmann
Producer: Harriet Tatham
Video Editor: Georgios Iosif Skortsis
Graphics & Animation: Muaz Osman
Local producer: Aref Alkraz
Cinematographer: Omar Haj Kadour
Production Assistant: Noor Bayoumi
Executive Producer: Julia Mills

This film was shot in Syria in August 2025.