“They found out there’s a machine. They put a human being inside, and they are compressed while they are alive.”

That’s just one of many horrifying stories coming out of Syria now that rebels have toppled the brutal dynastic Bashar al-Assad dictatorship. 

Ahmad Alkhaldy is from Syria and owns Palmyra on Wilton Drive.

His social media is filled with videos of celebrations, and friends keep him informed of what’s going on.

“People got their country back, and they want to build it and return to normal lives. Be democratic,” he said.

During the 50-year dynastic dictatorship, and 13-plus year revolution, thousands of people just disappeared. Families were left wondering if their loved ones died in bombings or were jailed by state police. As rebels liberate political prisons, people are having unexpected reunions, including in Alkhaldy’s family.

“My cousin is a doctor. He disappeared in 2011. No one heard of him after,” Alkhaldy said. “Yesterday my mom called me and said he’s back, he’s alive.”

Alkhaldy says people are finding hidden gates to prisons no one knew even existed, and says one person has been in prison since 1982 and is so confused they have forgotten how to talk.

During The Gazette’s visit to Palmyra, two other Syrians were having dinner and shared their thoughts and hopes for Syria’s future. Dr. Ahmed Sakkal, a cardiologist, and his son, Dr. Mouhammed Sakkal, an internist, and both are members of the Syrian-American Council.

“There was a photographer whose job was to take pictures of the [tortured and killed] prisoners, and they would be filed,” Ahmed said.

Mouhammed added: “There was always the fear that you’re being monitored by the secret police and taken and never seen again.”

The Sakkals live in West Virginia, and Mouhammed was born in the U.S. He says it’s been 15 years since he visited Syria.

According to The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 600,000 have been killed since the civil war broke out in 2011. The same organization estimates 13 million have been displaced.

All three interviewees are cautiously optimistic, citing that rebels have been conciliatory to surrendering soldiers and embracing religious diversity. They say the country has always been welcoming to all religions.

The Assads were propped up by Russia, a secular dictatorship, and Iran, a theocratic dictatorship. Alkhaldy and the Sakkals say the Syrian mentality doesn’t lean towards Iran-style extremism.

“Syria is a very moderate religious society. Extremism is unknown in Syria,” Ahmed said.

The main rebel group that toppled the Assad regime is labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S.

“It’s so much more complicated than that. You have all these groups that are trying to gain power,” Mouhammed said. “Everything we’re seeing is indicating that it appears that the Syrian people have taken their country back into their own hands.”

Alkhaldy fled Syria after his family found out he’s gay. He hopes being LGBTQ becomes less stigmatized in the new regime.

“You can not judge me just because I sleep with guys. We don’t want Syria to be a religious [state]. It must be civil and respectful for everyone.”

“The only thing Syria needs right now is for the United Nations to move and help Syrians in this transition,” Alkhaldy added.

For now, they are riding a spectrum of emotions, digesting the bad news along with the good.

“It’s almost like a bittersweet feeling,” Mouhammed said. “We want to see democracy come. The average Syrian person has lost a loved one, and others have had relatives kidnapped and never seen again.”