Christmas wish comes true for twin sisters as they are reunited with family after escaping the horrors of war-torn Syria

Twin sisters Nevart and Silva celebrate their first Christmas with their family in Australia after fleeing war-torn Syria.

The siblings, who are fleeing the city of Aleppo for western Sydney, have put up a Christmas tree and decorations to celebrate their first festive meal with Nevart’s son since they were separated 13 years ago.

The sisters arrived in Australia as refugees last December and after staying with relatives for a few months and looking for a suitable home in a tight rental market, they can finally gather under one roof for Christmas.

It’s a far cry from living under constant bombardment in Syria during a decade-long civil war that claimed more than 500,000 lives and displaced more than 10 million people, including the sisters.

“It is fortunate for me to be reunited with my only son after 13 years,” Nevart said.

‘Every time we spoke to him it was after a bomb had gone off here and there.

‘We left our home in Aleppo, not knowing if we would ever go back there. It was terrifying… we didn’t know if a rocket was going to fall on us.”

The regime of former autocrat Bashar al-Assad fell in December to a lightning offensive by Turkish-backed Islamist rebels.

The sisters fled Aleppo and took refuge in neighboring Lebanon in 2017 – part of the exodus of 1.5 million Syrians who moved there after the outbreak of war.

Like most of their compatriots, they were unable to obtain permanent residency and were declared illegal.

They made ends meet by teaching and caring for the elderly for three years until the COVID-19 pandemic struck, cutting off their meager sources of income.

A further tragedy occurred in August 2020 when Beirut’s port exploded, killing more than 200 people, including an Australian toddler.

“It was so scary… at first we thought someone had committed a (suicide) attack… we didn’t think it was that far out in the harbor,” Nevart said.

The explosion brought back memories of the rocket attacks and barrel bombs the sisters had fled in Aleppo.

‘It was all fear. We didn’t know what the future would bring; there was darkness.’

The darkness was also literal: electricity was only available for a few hours during the day. Water in the household was considered a luxury and clothes were washed by hand.

Determined to enjoy a better life, they decided to move to Australia.

The Armenian-Syrian twin sisters, who now live in Sydney’s multicultural west, put up a Christmas tree and decorations to celebrate the festivities (pictured, residents in Sydney’s west visit a house decorated with Christmas decorations)

“We feel safe in Australia… there are no bombings, there is always water and there is always electricity,” Nevart said.

Rima Ramdani, the sisters’ casework manager at a nonprofit refugee resettlement organization Settlement Services Internationalsaid acclimatising to life in Australia can be a challenge, with each newcomer’s unique journey depending on their circumstances.

“We advocate on their (the refugees’) behalf – from doctors to employers and driving schools,” she said.

“We are here to orient them so they can be independent.”

It was not the first time that the twin sisters escaped war. They previously fled Kuwait, where they had a comfortable life with their parents after Iraq invaded the oil-rich Gulf country in 1990.

Silva has been busy whipping up a Christmas rush of delicious Armenian and Middle Eastern dishes, from kibbeh traboulsieh (fried meat and bulgur) to muhammara (roasted red pepper and walnut dip) and ouzi (a lamb and rice dish).

The sisters were among the 10 million people displaced during Syria’s decade-long civil war (photo from a refugee camp in Syria)

“We were just two women alone, which was hard… we only had God. We prayed to him and he answered our prayers,” Silva said of the six years she survived the brutal conflict in Aleppo.

‘We are completely different, but inseparable. We always feel each other,” the sisters said in unison, laughing.