Local Syrian Americans express ‘tearful joy’ and ‘overwhelming happiness’ at Assad’s fall

THURSDAY, Dec. 12 — As a Syrian-born child of two Palestinian refugees, Bassam Mahmoud’s early life was dictated by a lack of true citizenship.

When his parents were forcibly relocated to Syria in 1948, they weren’t granted Syrian citizen status, even though their eight children were all born and raised in the country. In an effort to carve out his own sense of belonging, Mahmoud moved to the United States in 1986 and went on to establish Sultan's Mediterranean Cuisine & Bakery in 1995.

Now nearly four decades into his American life, Mahmoud waited anxiously as he followed reports about rebel militia groups pushing into Damascus over the weekend. By Sunday, they had forced dictator Bashar Assad to flee the country.

Mahmoud, 66, said he was keeping up with the action “on an hourly basis.” He still has aunts, uncles and extended family members living there.

“When they reached Damascus, I started to feel the excitement and the happiness. It was overwhelming happiness, actually,” he said.

East Lansing-based hand surgeon Abdalmajid Katranji, the son of Syrian parents who moved to the United States before he was born, said he felt a “tearful joy” when the news broke.

“Literally, my eyes welled up. My wife was crying with me. It was crazy and amazing, but it’s hard to explain. It was like this disease had finally been ripped out of your body,” he said.

Abdalmajid Katranji

From about 2010 to the present, Katranji, 50, has taken more than a dozen trips to Syria to provide humanitarian aid and relief in partnership with groups like the Syrian American Medical Society and Atlantic Humanitarian Relief. His domestic advocacy includes being a board member on the Syrian American Council.

Overseas, he said he’s performed “probably hundreds” of surgeries in Syria, adding that a “disproportionate” number of these procedures were the direct result of violence perpetuated by the Assad regime. At one point, he said he was even added to Assad’s watch list, which effectively banned him from the country.

“We took care of everybody, without bias. The goal was to make sure that there was a better opportunity for all. But in terms of just the sheer numbers, the brutality and atrocities that the Assad regime was willing to commit were mammoth. I think a lot of that imagery is finally coming to light as these prisons are being opened up,” Katranji said.

Both Mahmoud and Katranji couldn’t hide the elation they felt knowing that the Syrian people can now experience a life without fear of dictatorial retribution.

However, they also acknowledged that there's still some uncertainty over what Syria will look like under a new governmental structure.

“While everything looks promising, I fear that there’s a plot. I don’t think these rebels came and conquered these cities in two or three days without planning with somebody,” Mahmoud said. “Who is that somebody? Could it be Israel? America? Maybe. I don’t know. But they would not do what they did without backing from people who have power, without some sort of plan for what will happen next.”

For that reason, Katranji said the country’s new leaders need to prioritize incremental changes. He cited botched governmental transitions in Iraq and Afghanistan, in which the West played a key role, as examples of why he thinks a gradual transition is a better path forward.

“It would be naive not to have some sort of trepidation about the next steps. But we have to remember that it takes time. Democracy is an evolution, it’s not an instant product,” he said.

For Mahmoud and Katranji, those questions are softened somewhat by the fact that they’ve both witnessed some of the atrocities facilitated by the Assad regime.

“I was there when Assad’s father was the president and dictator,” Mahmoud said. “Wherever you went, you saw his picture. You had to talk in whispers. There were no human rights and no clean drinking water. The oppression they faced, I don’t think that’s ever going to be wiped from their memories.”

Bassam Mahmoud

He recalled hearing stories of political prisoners that still haunt him. One involved a woman in her late 20s who prison guards raped.

“They kept the baby in the jail, and he grew up that way. He was interviewed when he was just 7 years old and said he didn’t even know what birds, the sun or trees were. Imagine what that does to a child,” Mahmoud said.

He added that, as a young man, he was also “unnecessarily” jailed himself for two days after Hafez al-Assad sent men to Mahmoud’s father’s restaurant to search for someone who had worked there.

“I told them he quit, and they asked where he lived. I said I knew the area but didn’t know the address because I’d never been to his house. They took me from my restaurant and put me in jail,” he said. “They asked me many unnecessary questions, even though I didn’t have any affiliation with any organization or party. Still, it was insignificant compared to what happened to others. I was lucky.”

Now that al-Assad has fled Damascus, Mahmoud said, “all the Syrians are extremely happy because they finally feel free."

"I’m 10,000 miles from there, but I can still see how excited they are. Until now, the country was run by guns and opposition. You couldn’t have your own voice," he said. 

Katranji was unable to visit his family members in Syria during his humanitarian trips, largely because of Assad’s influence. After Assad fled, he said he was finally able to communicate with them “without having to be very selective in what you say.”

“It's such a change from having to speak in code to now being able to speak whatever you want. We were freely saying congratulations. It was so cathartic. It’s impossible to explain the feeling,” he said.

Mahmoud hopes his relatives in Syria can gain full citizenship under a new government. Still, he said he’s closely watching how that process unfolds.

“Right now, I am the happiest man on Earth. But because I am Syrian, I also don’t know what’s going to happen next. So, that happiness is mixed with fear,” he said.

While the news is still fresh, Katranji took a moment to recognize the collective efforts that made the moment possible.

“This outcome in Syria is not on the back of one person, group or organization, but a myriad of people who started crying for hope and freedom. Each one of those that persevered added their own little piece of the 1 million-piece puzzle to finally get to the picture that we get to enjoy today,” he said.

Many never lived to see their dream come to fruition, he added.

“It's so bittersweet, in that sense, to know that all their sacrifices led to this moment of joy. I only pray that, when they look down from heaven, they're celebrating with us,” he said.