Syrian man excited to return home after regime ends

A Syrian man living in Gloucestershire has said he is looking forward to visiting family in his home country for the first time in 14 years, after the fall of the Assad regime.

Rami Almeshkawi said he spent 40 days in jail for protesting against the previous Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and ended up fleeing the country. He lived in Lebanon for seven years before arriving in the UK in 2018.

He plans to visit Syria with his family soon, with a new government now in place.

"We are very excited to have democracy, to have freedom [in Syria]," Mr Almeshkawi said.