A young law graduate has said she wants to help "rebuild" Syria into a prosperous nation following the fall of the Assad regime.
Lana Bader Eddin, 23, came to Ireland 13 years ago with her family and last month she graduated with a law degree from Trinity College Dublin.
Witnessing what was happening to her home country inspired Lana to pursue a career in law.
"To be Syrian is to be political, your whole existence is politicised, your humanity is questioned, and seeing everything that was happening on the news, it pushed me to try to understand the true meaning of justice," she said.
"With everything happening now and after graduating, I would want to pursue an area within commercial law so I can actually help rebuild the economy in my country and help foreign companies set up bases in Syria."
Reflecting on the fall of Assad, Lana said it was "joyous" news, but the future is uncertain.
"As much as it was a happy moment, I think worry immediately kicked in. How will the new opposed government fix the damage the Assad regime has done? Will the international stage accept the new government? Those are the questions on everyone’s minds right now."
Lana hopes to return to Syria and get to work when it is safe to do so.
"The situation is still very unclear on the ground whether it’s safe there. Me and everyone in the Syrian diaspora are questioning our ability to go back just yet," she explained.
"In the long run, I want to help and give back to my country. My country deserves nothing but prosperity and I'd feel I'd done my civilian duty to have contributed to the rebuilding of Syria."
Lana says she feels "as Irish as I am Syrian" and expressed her gratitude to Ireland for being so welcoming.
"Irish people are the most welcoming in Europe and they understand the Syrian issue and truly helped," she said.
