Wide-eyed Seif said his family had lost hope of seeing him again after jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant snatched him from his media office in Idlib province.
The 22-year-old was repeatedly beaten by his captors, before being sentenced to death for his media activism and his parents had already been told he was dead.
But an offensive against the group, launched last week by other Islamist rebels outraged by ISIL's abuses, saved his life.
When Seif was reunited with his family and fiancee, he gained a fresh lease of life.
"My parents had been told by ISIL I had already been executed. They couldn't believe their eyes when they saw me," Seif from Idlib province told Agence France Presse via the Internet.