An elderly man in Homs has revealed a library belonging to his son that he kept hidden behind a wall in their home for years, fearing repercussions from Syria’s former government under Bashar al-Assad. The discovery is one of several stories emerging across Syria of banned or hidden books resurfacing since the regime’s fall in December 2024, after decades in which possessing certain texts carried serious risk.

Under the dictator Assad’s rule, Syrian publishers and citizens say books deemed critical of the government, or that promoted differing ideologies, were routinely confiscated, banned, or destroyed, pushing many families to conceal personal collections out of fear of imprisonment or worse.