Rebels have overthrown the authoritarian regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. And one local college professor is rejoicing over this development.
Omar Dahi teaches economics at Hampshire College in Amherst. He left Syria in 1996 for the U.S. to study and hasn't been back to his native land in more than a decade, as a civil war has been raging on. He said there was a lot going through his mind as news came about the overthrow.
"It's been incredible to watch, it's been beyond belief, it's something that a lot of us who grew up in Syria, in many ways, who were against the government dreamt the day would come when Assad-rule would be over," Dahi said. "There's incredible joy."
Dahi said there's still plenty of concern about Syria's future, what a new government might look like with rebels now in control and in the context of other conflicts in the region. But for now, he says, "There's just pure joy with the collapse of this state apparatus that has really, in many ways, mismanaged and destroyed Syria's society over the years."
Dahi said before the civil war broke out, he had returned to Syria to study its economy and to visit family members. He said many of his immediate relatives, like many Syrians have left the nation.
