By DAMASCUS, Syria — It was a small act of teenage defiance that sparked a revolution, a moment forever inscribed in Syrian history.
When 15-year-old Mouawiya Syasneh and a group of classmates from Daraa sprayed the words “It’s your turn, Doctor” on the wall of their school, the reference to dictator Bashar al-Assad would become inextricably linked with a 13-year civil war.
Now 30, Syasneh, told NBC News in an interview in Damascus that the night Assad’s regime finally fell, he drove from southern Syria to the country’s capital to see the revolution come full circle with his own eyes.
“I remembered when I was in prison 14 years ago when the regime arrested us and tortured us,” he said, adding that he didn’t like to recall those dark days. Now, he said, he was once again hopeful for his country.
Syasneh, who is now married with a 6-year-old son, was detained along with at least 15 other boys, triggering outrage over their mistreatment. Protests spread across the country and would ultimately morph into a bloody and brutal conflict — killing hundreds of thousands of people, displacing half the prewar population of 22 million, and wiping out Syria’s economy.
