In a time, exhausted by war and division, a new identity is quietly taking shape in Syria –one that resembles nothing before it and refuses to fit the old categories that fractured society for decades. A generation of young Syrian women is saying no: no to the sect that confines, no to the party that monopolises, and no to loyalties imposed from outside. For them, non-belonging is not emptiness but a conscious stance; an attempt to define the self through freedom, individuality, and humanity.
This “non-belonging” has become a form of contemporary identity, born out of disappointment and driven by a search for a homeland measured not by allegiance, but by dignity and equality.
During the long years of war, sectarian and political divisions became part of Syrians’ daily lives. Fear and mistrust spread between communities until belonging to a sect or a party turned into a means of survival rather than conviction. Over time, these divisions settled into memory, language, and relationships; appearing almost inevitable.
Yet in the shadows, a different generation has emerged. Young women who neither chose the war nor its divisions but grew up within them. Exposed to sharp sectarian rhetoric, they quietly rejected it. For them, sect and party no longer define identity; belonging itself feels heavy and outdated. Instead, they embrace a new concept: non-belonging, not merely as rejection, but as a search for a humane Syrian identity that transcends old labels. These are women seeking a free self, and a form of belonging that no one can impose upon them.
Non-Belonging Is Not Neutrality – It Is Awareness
Najla Tawfiq Tammo, an administrator at the Shawshka Women’s Association, told +963 that the meaning of belonging in Syria has changed: “Belonging today goes beyond narrow sectarian and political identities toward a broader human one.”
She explained: “I believe in a homeland where rights and duties are equal for all, based on a shared constitution that guarantees justice and true citizenship. Syria needs a new social contract redefining the relationship between citizen and state, free from discrimination.”
Tammo believes that young Syrian women today are more aware of the need to move beyond the old loyalties that fuelled the war. “Many young women no longer see themselves in traditional affiliations. They are searching for individual identities that express them as independent women capable of thought and change, outside the limits of sect, party, or group.”
She added that this transformation “is not a rejection of the past, but the result of accumulated disappointments and failures that made the younger generation more eager to build a different reality based on dialogue rather than conflict.”
Tammo stressed that non-belonging should not be seen as negative: “Young women are not rejecting belonging itself, but the idea of having one imposed upon them. They are seeking free spaces to express themselves, and a civic Syrian identity beyond geography and sect.”
This shift, she noted, is visible in daily life – in how young women choose their education, work, clothing, and even the language they use to describe themselves.
She concluded: “Building a new, more humane Syrian identity requires real support –legal protection, economic and educational empowerment, and genuine participation in decision-making. Equality is not a slogan but a daily practice that must become reality. Only then can women be true partners in rebuilding the nation.”
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A Generation Seeking Human Liberation
For journalist and human rights activist Iman Abu Assaf, the war forced a painful reckoning. “It made me a witness to human and moral failure,” she said. “Humanitarian and rights organisations that claimed neutrality betrayed their values. The so-called civilised world reduced us to margins and numbers. The deception was hidden in culture, history, and slogans.”
The Syrian ordeal, she explained, awakened in her a rejection of all forms of belonging that now appear as meaningless restraints in the face of power and domination.
Abu Assaf believes that sectarian or partisan identity has lost its value: “I never truly belonged to a particular sect, but the war made me realise how fragile all forms of belonging are when collective thinking rewards those who hold power.”
She added: “The political failures of parties and movements reflect a natural need for civilisational renewal; an inevitable process of human evolution.”
Her intellectual distance from group loyalties has left her isolated, yet more reflective: “The complex crisis Syrians live today has pushed me to question existence, meaning, and purpose. Much of what we were taught no longer stands against the changing reality.”
Despite hardship, Abu Assaf sees in the new generation of women a deep, mature awareness shaped by suffering. “They have lost faith in traditional forms of belonging and started to seek roles that restore their sense of worth,” she said. “Non-belonging is a mix of awareness and disappointment, but it marks a turn toward creative individuality that produces diversity and difference.”
This transformation appears in daily choices – from education and career to adopting a simpler, more practical lifestyle.
Though society still resists women-led change, Abu Assaf believes the war, harsh as it was, opened new doors: “The difficult circumstances pushed women into fields they had never entered before and gave them courage to express themselves more freely. This generation will shape a new Syrian identity – if given dignity, stability, and institutions that turn this awareness into structure rather than wasted potential.”
Ultimately, non-belonging is no longer a passive stance against sect or politics. It is a conscious project of awareness – a quiet revolution led by women. Between Najla Tammo’s vision of a just, inclusive homeland and Eman Abu Assaf’s call for creative individuality lies the emergence of a new Syrian identity; one that suggests true belonging may begin only when we stop belonging to what divides us.
