ATHENS/BERLIN –
Najem al-Moussa was delighted when news of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s overthrow first beamed from the television into his tiny Athens apartment.
Then came a dreaded thought: what if Assad’s fall meant he and his family would be forced to return to the devastated country they had fled nine years before?
Events in Syria took a seismic turn on Sunday when rebels poured into Damascus after a lightning offensive that forced Assad into exile in Russia and raised hopes of an end to a 13-year civil war that has left the country in ruins.