SAN DIEGO — Syrians in San Diego are still celebrating what they hope will be a new beginning of freedom for their country.
Dancing in the street has not stopped since the fall of the Bashar Assad regime in Syria.
Seventeen-year-old Ali Ahmed was only 4 years old when his family fled violence.
“Bombs hitting on us, the houses, evacuating the places. Living every moment, I still remember every moment,” Ahmed said.
His family settled in San Diego and his father, Hussein Ahmed, started the restaurant Mal Al Sham. He now runs it with his brothers, bringing a taste of Syria to San Diego.
For the second weekend in a row after the shift of power, the Arab community came to Mal Al Sham to celebrate with traditional Syrian dances, drinks and sweet treats — hoping the violence has ended for good.
“All the family is very happy,” Hussein Ahmed said. “Everything is a freedom.”
He is focusing on building two more locations in Southern California, a Syrian bakery near Mal Al Sham, and a second restaurant location in Anaheim. Hussein and Ali Ahmed both hope people in Syria will get opportunities and choices like they have found here.
“I thank my God for everything. It’s very happy,” he said.
“I hope the best for our country Syria, and a better country for future generations,” Ali Ahmed said.
Ibrahim Al-Marashi is a professor of 20th century Middle Eastern history with a focus on Iraq and Syria. He said he never could have predicted the sudden collapse of the Assad dynasty, which ruled Syria for more than 50 years.
“[Assad] is a man, maybe he would die, there would be a problem transferring power; but seeing the collapse almost overnight, that took me by surprise, absolutely,” Al-Marashi said.
He said there’s no doubt regional politics have shifted, but what’s going to happen within Syria itself is uncertain.
“It could either go through the future that Libia and Yemen have faced in their past of the country being divided by warlords and militias,” Al-Marashi said. “As a collective, they might want to do everything possible to avoid their neighbor’s fates in the Middle East and try to come together.”
As Ali Ahmed watched his grandparents, father and other members of his family dance in joy, he’s hopeful he might get to return to Syria as a doctor someday.
“Happiness. Joyful. It’s like a moment of freedom,” he said.