Bashar al-Assad is gone, and Syria is finally free. However, I am unable to fully rejoice in the long-awaited fall of his regime and the liberation of my country. This is because, like so many Syrians, I have a gaping wound: someone I love is still lost in al-Assad’s prisons.

My younger brother Youssef, my soulmate, disappeared in 2018, and I have been searching for him ever since.

Youssef was once full of life. His laughter would light up every room he stepped foot in. He loved music, and dancing the Dabkeh. He raised pigeons, with dedication and care.

Everything changed in August 2018. The regime accused him of participating in opposition activities against the regime, and they detained his wife, to put pressure on him to turn himself in.

Worried that they would harm his wife, he headed south towards Sweida from the Rukban refugee camp, where he was living. Somewhere along the way, he vanished. And I have spent every day since trying to find him.

All these years, I pushed myself not to give up, not to lose hope. But I had so little to hold on to. With every passing day, the glimmer of hope that I had left was fading.

Then, last month, after the collapse of the regime, one short video from the recently liberated Sweida prison reignited the fire in my heart. In the footage, there was a man. His face, his posture, and his fleeting smile looked just like Youssef’s.

I played the........

© Al Jazeera