The famous phrase refers to a significant turning point in someone’s life. It was coined to describe the conversion to Christianity of the apostle Paul as he traveled from Jerusalem to Damascus. Today, that ancient city, one of the oldest inhabited cities on earth, is also about to transform after the surprise overthrow of Syria’s dictator. The hope is that the coalition of insurgents who liberated Syrians will forge a representative and pluralistic government to replace its dictatorship. Also necessary is Syria’s “revolution,” which offers a chance for its gigantic diaspora of millions who fled to return and rebuild their country. Russia and Iran are gone, and Turkey, the United States, and Israel have destroyed terrorist forces, as well as Assad’s weapons, to prevent another evil regime from taking root. Now, all must work on a transition that few thought would happen. As one Syrian refugee said, “We thought that [the civil war] was the end of the story, but it wasn’t.”
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