Syrian man breaks down wall to recover library hidden for 15 years

A Syrian man has returned to his home in Damascus after 15 years in Kuwait to uncover a private library he had sealed behind a wall in 2011, fearing that the books inside could put him at risk under the rule of former president Bashar Al Assad.

Video footage circulating online shows the man, identified in reports as Abu Bilal, using a hammer to break through the wall and reveal shelves packed with books and magazines that had remained hidden for about 15 years.

The collection reportedly includes hundreds of books, along with Quranic certificates and other personal belongings. The man had built the wall around late 2011 before leaving Syria for Kuwait, amid the conflict and strict security measures under the Assad government.

After removing the barrier, he found much of the collection still intact, with only a small amount of dust having entered the concealed space, according to reports.

The emotional discovery comes as Syria's publishing and literary landscape has undergone significant changes following the fall of the Assad government in December 2024.

Books that were previously restricted under the former government have since appeared openly in Damascus bookshops and at literary events. The 2026 Damascus International Book Fair, the first since Assad's ousting, featured previously restricted Islamist literature, works by critics of the former government and Kurdish publications. More than 500 publishing houses from 35 countries reportedly participated.

Publishers have also described a sharp easing of censorship. Reuters reported that titles by authors such as Sayyid Qutb and Ibn Taymiyyah, as well as Kurdish literature, were openly displayed at the 2026 fair. However, reports also noted that some restrictions remain, including on material considered to threaten civil peace or glorify the former Assad regime.

The rediscovery of the hidden library has therefore become a striking personal illustration of a wider change in Syria's cultural landscape: books once kept behind walls can now be brought back into the open.

For Abu Bilal, the moment was also a return to a part of his life that had been left behind in Damascus in 2011 — preserved, book by book, behind a wall for more than a decade.