Reem Subei couldn't believe her eyes as she read the headlines on her phone's screen.
Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian dictator, had fled the country. Anti-regime rebel forces had swiftly and successfully ousted the authoritarian state that ruled the Middle Eastern country for 50 years.
"I just couldn't believe it," said Subei, 35. "It was like watching a movie and then there's this sudden ending."
Within 24 hours after news broke of Assad's downfall, Syrian expat and Raleigh resident Ahmed DiarBakerli in downtown Raleigh to celebrate.
"Every day I squeeze myself to make sure that I am awake and this is real," said DiarBakerli, 65. "I never thought that this day would happen."
Celebratory Syrian music played from speakers, and men played drums and sang with the crowds. People waved the three-starred Syrian protest flags, along with Palestinian flags that read "SAVE GAZA."
DiarBakerli lived in Syria several decades ago during the original authoritarian Ba'athist party regime of Hafez al-Assad, the father of the now-gone dictator.
Visiting his native Damascus was only a dream, but it's now closer to reality, he said.
His son, 35-year-old Rakan, said in an interview that he's never seen his father this happy before.
"Everyone is going back to Syria, going back home, and reuniting with family they haven't seen in 13 years," Rakan said. "It's joy, it's absolute joy."
Hope for an end to the suffering was long-gone for years, after the 2011 revolt against the regime resulted in Assad crushing the dissent with deadly force.
The revolt launched a violent civil war 鈥� referred to as a revolution by Syrians at home and abroad 鈥� that has killed more than 618,000 people, displaced millions and sending 6.3 million Syrians around the world.
Now, hope and optimism fill Syrian Americans like Subei, whose family was relieved to hear the news after days of uncertainty when rebels progressively defeated regime forces in various cities.
"There was a lot of worry and fear among a lot of my family members," said Subei. "Because if things escalated, we know the regime has no hesitation to kill and cause an endless number of civilian casualties."
Subei, a Cary resident, was born in the U.S. to Syrian parents from Damascus, who haven't returned since before the ongoing civil war.
Anyone who lived in Syria or has family there has harrowing stories about the oppressive Assad dictatorship, she said.
She remembered when a family friend in Syria was detained by Assad's forces and disappeared for a year. He returned traumatized.
"A common theme of anybody who is incarcerated by the regime is they come out and cannot even speak of the horrors," she said.
DiarBakerli said his cousin, detained by police forces for consuming Western media many years ago, did not survive torture in prison.
"In Syria, they say the walls have ears," he said. "Keep your mouth shut. Even at home, you cannot talk because somebody will listen and will report you. And if you are reported, you are gone. You are gone at least for six months, and that's if you are lucky to come back home."
Hope for Syria
"I'm very hopeful about what's next for Syria," Subei said. "I have full trust that the Syrian people get to a place where they have a leader who they trust and genuinely cares for their well-being. It's not going to be easy. It's never easy to have a revolution."
Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, is the Sunni Islamist rebel group that took down the Assad government, whose government represented the Islamic minority.
HTS is classified as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and is a former affiliate of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, according to national and international media.
But the group is praised by Syrians at home and abroad for liberating the country from the oppressive Assad regime.
The group's leader, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, is working to gain trust while in the international spotlight and reportedly said he wished to establish a legitimate government that would respect Syria's ethnic and religious minorities, according to the Associated Press.
Jolani is seen a hero by the Syrian American community, said Rakan DiarBakerli.
"You look at movies and T.V. and you're talking about the rebels, the audience is always cheering for them," said Rakan."But then when you talk about rebels in real life, they're usually ostracized and demonized and also seen as terrorists. Even though they're the ones trying to liberate their people from the terror."
Rakan has plans to travel to Jordan soon where he once lived and is excited by the prospect of being able to return to Syria again.
The Associated Press and BBC contributed to this report.
