Syrian immigrants, refugees in Triangle celebrate rebel victory, fall of Al-Assad
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Dozens of Syrian immigrants and refugees took to Moore Square on Sunday afternoon to celebrate after rebel forces in Syria captured the capital Damascus and toppled the regime of longtime dictator Bashar Al-Assad. That victory was the culmination of a surprise offensive that started 11 days ago -- and follows 13 years of civil war that started in the country around the time of the Arab Spring.
"This is one of the happiest days in our life. One of the happiest days in our lives and the lives of all Syrians," said Abdullah Khadra, a Syrian native who fled the country in 2011, just months after revolution broke out.
Khadra said it's been a difficult, painful journey at times as he had to leave his mother and other close family behind.
"I lost my brother," Khadra said. "We don't know, it's almost 8 years, we don't know if he's alive or he's dead. We're still looking at the pictures of those who are coming out of the prisons, looking at the names."
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Khadra's countryman Ahmed Bakerli left Syria in the late 1980s and hasn't been back in years for fear of retribution after protesting against the regime.
"Seven, eight years ago I came to the square and I rebelled against Assad," Bakerli said. "My picture came on TV. And I'm worried that if I go there, they will put me three, four stories below ground forever."
Bakerli has also been separated from family, unable to return home even after the death of his mother and sister.
"My mom died, my cousin died. My sister died. I could not go and visit them. So it is a very trying time for the Syrians," he said.
Following the successful rebel offensive -- and despite uncertainty about what may come next -- there's new hope for Syrians, many of whom long to return home after five decades of authoritarian rule and more than a decade of bloody civil war.
"We hope to join our people and to go to that land of Syria and celebrate and kiss the soil, kiss the soil of Syria where it was absorbed by the blood of more than 300,000 Syrians," said Khadra.
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