Syria live updates: Assad prisons searched; Israel hits suspected chemical weapons sites

Alaya, 38, said he was eager to be reunited with his mother after so many years apart — but, for his father, who died in 2016, just two years after he left, he said, this moment in history comes too late.

“He passed away and I could not attend his funeral,” he said, adding: “My wish is just to say goodbye to my grandmother before she passes away … I could not say that to my dad.”

Still, Alaya, a father of three and now a British citizen, has built a life with his family in London, where he is in the process of starting a business as a chartered accountant. His life is here now, he said, reflecting a reality shared by many refugees and asylum seekers around the world.

But he is anxious to be able to return to Syria, where he says a number of his loved ones and friends have been held for years as political prisoners, with no word on their whereabouts or conditions for just as long.

“Maybe they died. Maybe they disappeared. Maybe they have been killed inside the prison,” he said. “I hope that we can hear about them.”