Touching meeting at the wire fence: Amar saw his children and wife after a year

After more than a year, Syrian refugee Amar Hamasho finally met his wife and four children again in Cyprus, albeit briefly.

Hamasho, who hails from the war-torn Idlib region, dropped to his knees and kissed his three older children through the wire fence surrounding the migrant reception center in Kikonotrimitiya, west of Nicosia.

His youngest child, Juma - named after the son he lost in an airstrike in 2015 - was in the arms of his wife Shamus. The family met on Sunday just hours after Hamasho's wife and their children, ages 7, 5, 4 and the youngest, 18 months, arrived in northwestern Cyprus with 300 other Syrians after a day-long journey by small boat from Mersin, Turkey. It was one of the most massive landings since the war in Syria began.

Hamasho knew that his family was trying to leave Syria, but he did not know exactly when.

"When I read on the Internet that about 250 of them headed for Cyprus, I knew they were there too," he said with a smile. "My heart is finally back in its place"

Hamasho made a similar journey a year ago, landing in Cyprus on September 6, 2016. Working as a construction worker, he managed to save $6 and pay a smuggler to bring his family to Cyprus. Now he is on the verge of receiving refugee status. Having worked in Cyprus from 000 to 2004, he speaks the language fluently and has friends in that country.

"When I returned to Syria in 2008, I built a house. I got married. I bought a property of 1,6 hectares“. "I worked day and night, do you understand? Now I have a property, but my house is a ruin".

Hamas' son Juma was less than five years old when he was killed. Staying in Syria was not an option, he said. "You cannot live in Syria now. I have no home there. I lost a child... I don't want to get my hands bloody, do you understand?'

“If you want bread... you have to get your hands bloody. You have to be a jihadist, either with Assad or someone else, and you have to kill and steal. If you start with that, you're done. I can't do that," said Hamaso. However, he says he will return to Syria as soon as the war is over. "It is my homeland and I will return home".