For Syrians in St. Louis, last week marked a dramatic shift in their home country's trajectory: In just a matter of days, the decades-long Assad dictatorship collapsed.
About 250 community members gathered in Chesterfield on Sunday to celebrate the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 8. Many in the room had personal stories of grief and loss, whether due to their own displacement, being imprisoned or knowing someone who was detained — or killed — by the Assad regime.
But at the local celebration where revolutionary songs filled the room and opposition flags were waved high, there was a sense of relief, joy and optimism for the country's future.
“We just feel such a renewed sense of hope for our community,” said Summer Albarcha, a Syrian American who attended the celebration. “Our memories are not going to be just about like the trauma of what our families have been through, but also the celebration of our culture and our traditions.”
Community members shared stories about what they witnessed in Syria over the years, including emotional testimony from a 65-year-old man who was detained as a young college student and tortured for three years in Syria’s notorious prisons.
The most anticipated speaker was Dr. Nabeel Rajeh, who was in Syria when rebels entered the capital, Damascus, and ousted the president.
“This is something that I have waited all my life to see,” Rajeh said.
Rajeh, a professor of medicine at St. Louis University, said people feared Assad would put up a bloody fight. Before the rebels advanced to the capitol, Rajeh said his family urged him to leave.
“But I wouldn't let go. I would not accept to leave without seeing that event and enjoying that moment,” Rajeh said.
Since the Syrian popular uprising against the regime began in 2011, an estimated half-million people have been killed and over 13 million displaced around the world.
Those who dared speak against the government were met with brutality.
Afnan Chikhani’s brother was detained by Syrian security forces in 2013 for starting an opposition political party and trying to feed people under siege. For two years, Chikhani and her family hoped he was alive.
“I looked for him. We all waited for any news to know if he's alive or not,” said Chikhani, who has lived in the St. Louis region for nearly 30 years.
It wasn’t until two years later that Chikhani learned his fate. Her brother was killed five days into detention, and she found the proof among 53,000 photos of tortured and killed Syrian detainees that were smuggled out of the country by a defected military photographer code-named Caesar.
“Now it's a relief because he and his friends and all the martyrs — they were killed for this moment just because they said they don't want their future generation, they don't want their kids to live what they lived, and that's what makes them brave,” Chikhani said.
Some Syrians looking to flee the war made St. Louis home. Nearly 1,000 people have resettled in Missouri since 2011, according to data from the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, with 773 in St. Louis served by the International Institute.
Mawada Altayan, who fled Syria in 2013 after fighting damaged her home near Damascus and bombing destroyed her husband’s business, longs to return to her homeland.
Altayan, 28, hopes her young children will soon meet their grandparents.
“If I see it's safe enough and good for my kids to live there, for sure, I will be there forever,” Altayan said. “No one likes to leave their family and their country, but you know, with all that happened in Syria, we didn’t have another choice.”
Albarcha, who used to spend her summers in Syria, also dreams of visiting again soon.
“Before the fall of the Assad regime, I never thought that even my own daughter could visit Syria, but now I'm so excited to one day take her, and hopefully, who knows, maybe even this summer,” Albarcha said.
As the challenging work of rebuilding begins, Syrians in St. Louis say they are committed to helping their country flourish.
“We would love to share our celebration with every single person, everyone, because it's a celebration not only for Syrians,” Chikhani said. “It's a relieving of aggression from humanity, and we love to celebrate that with every person in St. Louis, in Missouri, in America and all around the world.”
STLPR's Lara Hamdan contributed reporting to this story.
