DAMASCUS, Syria — The one thing the busloads of Syrian refugees at Jdeidet Yabous, the Syrian side of the main crossing from Lebanon, had in common was excitement to be back. Toddlers and even young teenagers brimmed with excitement; they had never set foot in their country. Their parents readily admitted they never expected to be able to return. Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s fall took them by surprise as much as it did Assad himself and the outside world.

The atmosphere at Jdeidet Yabous was relaxed. Families mulled about and took photos, draped in the new Syrian flag. The new Syrian regime maintained a desk just for returnees without papers, but rather than weaponizing bureaucracy, it worked hand in glove with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to make sure refugees could hit the ground running, both at the border and when they returned to towns and villages that war had transformed into piles of rubble.