As he was blind, the old man couldn't see the welcoming committee cheering him on like a hero. With a broad smile on his face, he raised his hands to the sky. His feet did not touch the ground as he crossed the border between Jordan and Syria. Carried by a jubilant crowd, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Sayasna returned home to the governorate of Daraa on Thursday, December 26, after 13 years of exile in Jordan and then Qatar. As the former imam of the Al-Omari mosque, the epicenter of the 2011 uprising against Bashar al-Assad's regime, Al-Sayasna had been the herald of the first demonstrations in this devout city in the country's south, known as the cradle of the revolution.

The convoy took him to the emblematic mosque in the old part of Daraa, where it all began. Flanked by two Kalashnikov-wielding rebel fighters, he entered the courtyard beneath the ancient minaret, which was twice damaged by the regime's bombs and twice rebuilt by insurgents.

"Our migratory birds are coming back," said Adnan Al-Massalma, a human rights lawyer, adding: "Sheikh Ahmad is a shining symbol. His voice was essential. He advocated peace, denounced sectarianism and called for taking to the streets without clashing with law enforcement."

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