Photo credit: the Globe and Mail
On Sunday in Calgary, hundreds celebrated in front of the city hall, waving Syrian and Canadian flags, dancing, and chanting.
CTV News reports that Sam Nammoura, co-founder of the Syrian Refugee Support Group, said, “This is the right for a glorious future. Any hiccups along the way, we will deal with it, but this is the right path for Syria.
“I hope the youth will leave without fear an they will live their life and they will love and they will flourish.”
Nathir Haimoun escaped Syria when he was 19. He is now a Canadian citizen and a university lecturer in economics. He said he has high hopes that the regime change in Damascus will benefit the people there. He said, “My hopes are very high in a democratic system in Syria that includes everybody. Syria is a very diverse country, … I’m hopeful that Syrians will be able to pull it together, build institutions, have a democracy and a better life.
Syrians in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) were no less happy. In Mississauga, a group of people came together overnight Saturday to rejoice.
CBC reports that by Sunday afternoon, hundreds of people gathered in the city’s Celebration Square to mark the fall of their home country’s former president.
Among the crowd was Houssam Harwash, who came to Canada from Syria in 2018 after being arrested and thrown in a Syrian jail for 43 days. He said several of his close friends were killed during protests against the Assad regime. He said, “I’ve been dreaming for this for te last 13, 14 years since the start of the revolution.”
Maewish Kobleh, executive director of the Syrian Canadian Foundation, said many Syrians had lost hope that they would ever see this day come. She said, “We kind of just accepted the fact that we’re just going to support Syrian refugees here in Canada or who have been scattered across the countries ace=ross the world.”
With the change, she said, “And we’re hoping that all the Syrians who are scattered across the world can come back to Syria and just hold each other’s hand and rebuild the country that has been really facing so much for half a century.”
The leader of Syria’s most significant rebel faction, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, is poised to chart the country’s future. He is a former al-Qaeda commander who cut ties with the group years ago. He says he embraces pluralism and religious tolerance.
However, his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, is considered a terrorist organization by the US and the UN.
