ATHENS/BERLIN — Najem al-Moussa was delighted when news of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's overthrow first beamed from the television in 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 (Dec 7) when rebels poured into Damascus after a lightning offencive 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.

Now, as European countries rethink their asylum policies for Syrians in the light of developments, many fear they will have to go back.

"I consider my life to be here. Not just me but my children," said al-Moussa, a lawyer by training who works as a cook in Athens and has been transfixed by the television news for days. "The life that was provided in Greece, my country was not able to offer."

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