ALEPPO, Syria — The Third Legion of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) on Jan. 14 held an event to honor several of its fighters who graduated from universities in opposition-held areas in northeast Syria, mainly the International Sham University, the University of Aleppo in the liberated areas (in reference to the areas under the control of the Turkish-backed factions) and the International University of Science and Renaissance. 

Several commanders of the Turkish-backed FSA and officials in the opposition-led interim government as well as fighters who graduated attended the event held in the Cultural Center in Azaz in Aleppo’s northern countryside.

Al-Monitor’s correspondent was present to see the joy on the faces of the graduates and their families. University of Aleppo President Abdul Aziz al-Daghim said at the ceremony, “There have been great accomplishments in the opposition-held areas in the field of science, and they have produced results that were unexpected years ago.”

Mahmood Talha, a journalist who works for Thiqa News Agency in Aleppo’s countryside, told Al-Monitor, “With the onset of the Syrian revolution in 2011 and the widening stretch of protests calling for toppling the regime of Bashar al-Assad, it has become difficult for many opposition Syrian young people to pursue their education in universities [in regime-held areas] out of fear of arrest and the risk of moving between Syrian provinces. But the dream of returning to college never left them. As soon as they got the opportunity, dozens of them resumed their studies and benefited from the facilitations offered by their factions, amid the relative stability in the opposition-held areas in northwest Syria.”