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 al-Assad's 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.
"Today I feel like I can breathe again. The best thing in this world is freedom," Hamawi, 61, told AFP, visibly tearing up from joy.