As Syria recovers from 13 years of civil war and decades under the brutal Assad regime, its people must now rebuild their nation.

One of those facing that task is Salahawa, a Syrian literature professor and revolutionary who the NewsHour met in 2012 and has spoken with many times since.

Special correspondent Leila Molana

Allen spoke with him recently in the new Free Syria. A free Syria for all its people. In 2012,

Salahua was an idealistic young father, teacher and protester, with high hopes for a free

future for his country. We're singing, we're chanting in the streets peacefully without carrying any weapons.

Every day the Assad regime forces, the security, Mukhbarat forces,

kill people on a daily basis.

What he saw in the 12 years since left him dejected and hopeless, his hometown of Raitan, devastated by Russian airstrikes, and hundreds of his friends and colleagues killed and displaced.

This was once Salas' home, where he raised his three oldest children and dreamed of a bright future for them.

Now his community, like thousands across the country, lies in pieces.

The earthquake two years ago took much of what the warplanes and artillery shells hadn't already destroyed.

Salah still thinks much death and destruction could have been avoided if he and his friends were given the help they needed in the early days of the revolution.

Nobody needs to blame them for being militants because what they saw pushes everybody to be militant.

When you see that all the people around you are bombed every day, and nobody

is trying to help. We do not deny that we got good support from Western governments and

Western organizations, but everything they gave was food, some blanket. But what we needed

at that time was some kind of weaponry.

If the US at that time had supported us militarily,

we would have prevented Iran from smuggling weapons to Hezbollah.

Salah, who once believed the world, and especially the US,

would stand behind Syrian protesters,

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