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It has been almost 20 years since Ahmed al-Ahmed left Nayrab in the countryside near the north-western Syrian city of Idlib. But on Sunday, he was the talk of the town.
Nayab’s residents awoke to a video of Ahmed wrestling a gun from a shooter halfway around the world in Sydney’s Bondi Beach, saving lives in what was the country’s deadliest shooting in nearly 30 years.
“Ahmed al-Ahmed represents the best of our country,” the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said of the father-of-two, newly a citizen of his adopted homeland.
“At a moment where we have seen evil perpetrated, he shines out as an example of the strength of humanity.”
For those who knew him, Ahmed’s bravery came as little surprise. Ahmed, a 44-year-old father of two, left Syria around 2006 to emigrate to Australia, but his strong personality left an enduring impression on his friends and family in Nayrab.
“Since he’s been young, Ahmed has been bold and driven. He was noble and brave,” says Mohammad Ahmad al-Ahmed, the uncle of the Bondi hero. He describes how that even before his act of bravery on Sunday, Ahmed had been a source of pride for the village, citing him earning a university degree in law before emigrating to Australia.
Al-Ahmed discovered the video of his nephew by chance while scrolling on social media before his phone began to sound with notifications from the family group chat.
The phone footage shows Ahmed creeping up on 50-year-old shooter Sajid Akram, using the cover of a parked car, before lunging at him, grabbing at his neck and arms, and wrestling the longarm rifle from him.
Ahmed takes control of the weapon and points it back at Akram, forcing the shooter backwards. But Ahmed never fires. Having forced Akram back, Ahmed places the weapon against a tree. Akram retreats to the nearby footbridge where his son, Naveed, armed with more weapons, continues to fire into the crowd at a Hanukah celebration.
Sajid Akram is later shot dead by police, his attack having killed 15 and wounded dozens more.
Ahmed was also shot by the terrorists. Suffering five wounds in his left arm, he faces rounds of surgery and months of recovery.
From hospital, Ahmed has found himself thrust into the glare of public attention, his act of bravery is said to have saved lives and has been a small bright spot in Australia’s national tragedy.
His heroism has also become a cause for pride for Nayrab, a town which for years was cut off from the rest of the world and even much of Syria.
“It has raised the heads up of the family and of all Syrians. I mean can you imagine? Half the world is talking about Nayrab and it’s a small village,” says Ahmed Mohammed al-Ahmed, the 33-year-old cousin of Ahmed.
Nayrab needs something to rally around after so many years of war. Broken concrete litters much of the town and pockmarked buildings still bear the scars of the conflict that ended just over a year ago.
The small agricultural town sat on the frontlines of Syria’s 14-year civil war and traded hands between the regime and opposition fighters throughout the conflict. Much of its population was displaced by the continued shelling, many going to Idlib and to neighbouring Turkey.
Ahmed’s own home still stands abandoned and broken. The roof is filled with holes and the walls, the ones that are still standing, have holes punched out of them by projectile fire. The house is surrounded by broken building supplies and waste.
It is perhaps the town’s experience with indiscriminate violence which has made Ahmed’s bravery so inspiring. His experience in the army, where he was a conscripted police officer according to his uncle, might have given him the experience needed to disarm the attacker.
“When he attacked the assailant and took the weapon from him as the attacker was firing at a group – he did not distinguish between them, whether they were Syrians or Arabs or Jews or Christians,” his uncle says. “This was a heroic act driven by humanity.”
The town has watched with amazement as Ahmed has become a hero the world over. Figures from across the globe, including New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, praised him as an example of bravery and coexistence.
At his modest tobacconists shop by a suburban train station, passersby have laid flowers bearing messages of gratitude and love. “You are an Aussie hero,” one message reads. A sign taped to his door says, “we are so very proud of you”.
A Go-fund me to cover Ahmed’s medical bills has raised more than A$2.5m from more than 42,000 donations – a number that continues to climb.
Watching Ahmed receive such global acclaim is especially poignant for Nayrab’s residents and Syrians, many of whom met frosty reception in countries where they were forced to seek asylum during Syria’s civil war.
“Everyone is proud of him. He performed a heroic act that raised up the heads of the family, and all of Syria. People will see that a Muslim isn’t ISIS [Islamic State]. A Muslim helps,” says Ahmed’s cousin.
