Syrian business owner imagines home again after Assad overthrow: ‘We have a country now’

COLUMBIA − A Syrian business owner in Columbia said the overthrow of the Assad government in Syria, which ended with President Bashar al-Assad fleeing the country after an advance by a rebel force on Sunday.

The dictator and his family ruled the country for 50 years before rebels seized control of the Syrian capital, Damascus, ending a 13-year civil war.

Ahmad Alkadah, a Syria native and owner of The Syrian Kitchen in Columbia, said he’s hopeful for the country’s future.

The Assad regime had a history of “domestic oppression, torture and murder,” that it used to stay in power, NBC News reported. 

According to NBC, more than 13 million people fled their homes in the civil war, according to U.N.’s refugee agency, UNHCR.

Around 7 million people were displaced in the country, and 6 million were displaced abroad abroad — some scattered throughout Turkey, other parts of the Middle East and beyond into Europe, NBC reported.

The group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham led the rebel force and was formed from an Al Quaeda affiliate, NBC reports. The leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, had involvement with militants battling American forces in Iraq following their 2003 invasion, NBC reported.

In recent years he has sought to project a more moderate image, however, cutting ties with Al Qaeda, renouncing international extremism and instead focusing on creating an Islamic republic in Syria, NBC reports. He says he supports religious tolerance and internal debate.

“They’re doing good now,” Alkadah said. “It’s safe now.”

Alkadah originally immigrated to Jordan in 2012, eventually moving to Columbia in 2016.

The Syrian Kitchen brings Syrian cuisine to the mid-Missouri area.

With the overthrow of Assad, the restaurateur says people have had thoughts of home.

“For the first day,” Alkadah said, “you know, this happened last Friday — For the first day, everybody thinks to go back.”

Despite the happiness he feels, he said his life is in the United States now.

“We can go back, but we are American now,” Alkadah said.

He says his family would like to visit and eventually make their way back to Syria, and he said he hopes every Syrian person gets that opportunity, too.

“We like to stay here, but not forever,” Alkadah said. “We go back, but we have no country until Last Saturday. We have a country now.”