STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Something like 6 million Syrians face a decision. The 6 million are numerous enough to comprise a whole country's population by themselves, and their decision is whether to return to their country after the old government fell. Some Syrians are in nearby Lebanon, where NPR's Emily Feng met them.
(SOUNDBITE OF ENGINE RUMBLING)
EMILY FENG, BYLINE: Khaled Al-Ahmad pours me a cup of strong coffee at his roadside shop under a white tent in northwestern Lebanon.
KHALED AL-AHMAD: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: He tells me he learned how to brew good coffee from his father, who learned from his father back in their hometown. They're from the Syrian city of Homs, not far from Lebanon.
I'm curious - the beans have a sour taste. How do you make that sour taste?
K AL-AHMAD: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: The trick, Al-Ahmad says, is to boil the coffee and keep slowly turning up the heat. The longer you boil the coffee, the more sour it gets. He's brought that flavor with him here...
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: ...To one of the many ad hoc refugee camps Syrians like him have built across Lebanon, this one in a dusty valley and teeming with children born here. About 1 1/2 million Syrians now live in Lebanon. That's more than a quarter of Lebanon's entire population.
K AL-AHMAD: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: But now, with the fall of Assad, Al-Ahmad says he plans to return to Syria once he saves up enough money. His 14-year-old daughter, Basma, is listening intently and ready to try out her English.
When you hear your dad talk about wanting to go back to Syria, how does that make you feel?
BASMA AL-AHMAD: (Speaking Arabic). I don't like (speaking Arabic). I love Lebanon.
FENG: She loves Lebanon. Her parents spirited her out of Syria when she was just 2 years old. She does not remember any of it - just her parents' stories of how happy they were there.
HIKMAT AL-AHMAD: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: Basma's mother, Hikmat, says, yes, they were happy, but it's complicated. After 12 long years away, they don't know what awaits them. So they are hanging back in Lebanon, like many Syrians they know.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: This bus depot in northern Lebanon has quieted down, no longer full of jubilant crowds flooding back into Syria in the immediate days following Assad's fall.
KAMEL AL-ASMAR: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: Bus driver Kamel Al-Asmar says Syrians have gotten scared off. The Israeli military, he says, bombed border crossings earlier this month and continues to bomb military sites in Syria. Plus, different groups are still battling for territory and influence there.
AHMAD SHAGHOURI: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: Outside a grocery store in downtown Beirut, Syrian refugee Ahmad Shaghouri has found steady work and says he will stay put in Lebanon's capital for now.
SHAGHOURI: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: "The current situation is too unpredictable," he says. And there are still open questions about how HTS, the fighting group that's now running Syria's interim government, will govern. For Khaled Al-Ahmad, back in the Syrian refugee camp, he too is on a wait-to-see basis. But his deepest worry is emotional.
K AL-AHMAD: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: He gestures to his children. If he goes back to Homs, Syria, he wonders out loud if anyone will recognize them. He has been gone for so long, he may not even recognize Syria.
Emily Feng, NPR News, Chtoura, Lebanon.
(SOUNDBITE OF STACEY BASSETTI'S "PHOTOGRAPH") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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