##VIDEO ID:FUysRGhBODE## [Music] hey like yeah I be strong strong [Music] [Music] hey what's f [Music] I [Music] [Music] I [Music] it [Music] sh [Music] alikum maraba welcome all I'm no and I'll be your MC for this afternoon I'm honored and humbled to be standing before you today today we come together to commemorate a joyous and historic occasion a moment to celebrate a free Syria a Syria that has risen From the Ashes of conflict stronger United and full of Hope for a future of peace freedom and Justice a Syria that belongs to everyone now before we begin today's program can we please uh turn off the music please uh can we turn off the music can you guys please turn off the music thank you before we begin our program today I ask you all to please join me in a moment of silence so honor and commemorate the martyrs who have sacrificed their lives in pursuit of freedom and [Music] Justice may we honor all the detainees who have gone missing may we take a moment for every person who has experienced pain and suffering at the hands of the Assad regime because because of their bravery we stand here today I know it's cold but thank you all for being here today to commemorate this beautiful event that will culminate with a free Syrian flag raising we're going to begin our program today with a Quran recitation by [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] thank you ah for the beautiful recitation masallah so I'm just going to go in and give a brief overview of the conflict and the history for over five decades Syria has suffered under the brutal rule of the Assad family H Assad's rise to power in the 1970s was defined as an era of Oppression human rights abuse and violence when H Al Assad's son Bashar Al Assad came into power in 2000 he initially promised reform to the government but those promises were instead only met with oppression systemic corruption and escalating violence towards his own people inspired by the Arab Springs Revolutions of the two of 2011 that swept across the Middle East syrians took to the streets demanding Democratic change in the southern city of d a 14-year-old boy named MAA sasna spray painted a wall with words we will never forget which translates too your turn is coming doctor the essid regime's response was to torture and imprison the young boy this act sparked National outrage peaceful protesters were met with bullets and bombs which triggered an uprising that spread like wild fire the Syrian people chanted for freedom and fundamental human rights but what began as a peaceful Uprising quickly turned into a devastating destruction by the assid regime from the massacre in hamama to the Siege in Aleppo the entire nation suffered immensely political prisoners were taken and tortured and their families never got closure on whether or not their loved ones were alive or dead estimated accounts of roughly a million killed and 14 million displaced yet even in Exile yet even in despair syrians across the world clung to hope that one day they would return to their beloved Homeland the dream of free Syria lived on and as the years passed and Syria became a distant tragedy and many began to despair on November 27th 2024 a coalition of Rebel forces launched a nationwide attack and recaptured territory by December 8th Bashar alassad fled the country like a [Applause] coward and the regime fell the end of an era of tyranny and inhumanity the people took to the streets to celebrate the political free prisoners were freed and reunited with their families and a new chapter of Hope began today we are all gathered here to celebrate not just the end of a horrible chapter but a new promise to rebuild heal and honor all those who have sacrificed for the dream of a free [Applause] [Music] Syria now before we get into speeches I would like to acknowledge and thank councilman at large F the assemblyman Benji Wimberly mayor Deputy Mayor parar [Applause] Raz and we're going to begin this program with a speech from Dr Muhammad scani our beloved Imam at the Islamic Center P [Applause] County Salam alaykum we are all today syrians as I mentioned [Applause] before yes alhamdulillah Allah subhah wa taala taught us that if you kill one person without without right cause as if you killed the whole Humanity so this man this he is not a man this criminal this person and this Shan yesan and and I believe that we did not see in the history of the humanity like this dictator he is the worst dictator in the world not nobody like him except another one and and Humanity will get rid of him very soon inshallah we have many dictators we have many dictators and they will go very soon so with your dedication with your commitment with your standing for Justice for All For Humanity Justice will win for everybody inshallah Palestine will be free all the world will be free and my brothers and sisters especially the Syrian brothers and sisters thank you very much for your great struggling and striving and commitment for freedom and Justice thank you very much thank you very much thank you very much thank you very much and thanks all for Palestinians who are working day and night for their freedom so who is working for freedom and Justice and dignity we are with him with her we are with those who were in The jails and prisons and San and Tor and all these the the evil the Devils uh prisoners in in the prison in the world so may Allah bless them bless their families and give them the A and the rewards for their patients you know some of them were in the jail for more than 4 years for no reason for no reason for they don't know why they are in the jail so alhamdulillah we thank Allah tala for this moment that we are together but please please we have also to thank our mayor our great mayor Andre s he his mother from halab his father from Lebanon but his blood is Palestinian I love you mayor W I love you we are behind you we love you we love your dedication and commitment for helping everybody not only syrians Palestinians you are for all people we thank you very much for that and our great hero great beer our mayor [Applause] [Music] Muhammed this kind of the of leadership which we need we need people for people we don't want dictators like like [Applause] some people they ask me is it okay to say but brothers and sisters I want to send a message today Unity Unity Unity Syrian people are one Syria all of people are united all of people are equal Christians uh Jews Muslims alawi everybody who is not a criminal he is one of us and we are one of them we love each other and we will work together as one Syria as one Humanity as one Palestinian as one p last yes I like that I like that too my brothers and sisters here in America we are very proud to be American but we are very upset about our our foreign policy our foreign policy is very wrong they they helped and supported Bashar Al Assad under the table all these years yes no Bashar but I am I am afraid that they will bring another Bashar because of them but we want them to know that we will never we will never accept that we will never quit we continue to work for justice for all people for Syria great Syria Syria which some of the brothers who came in 80 80 90s some of them here who came from great Syria you remember Syria was a great and still great Syria is a great down down yes so please brothers and sisters now Syrian people you have a great responsible responsibility you know what your responsibility now to open Syria for all refugees open Syria for anybody who wants refuge in Syria God bless Syria God Bless America God bless [Applause] thank you we get a next up we're going to have she M from zah Islamic [Applause] Center my dear brothers and sisters what a beautiful celebration let us start by thanking God our creator the creator of the universe for this beautiful news for this event thankful to God for the freedom of the Syrian people today my dear brother and sisters we are celebrating the freedom of Syria thankful to God for the freedom of Syria congratulation for the Syrian people congratulation for all those who are free around the world for the good news and for the end of tyrants end of dictatorship end of imprisonment end of persecution today today alhamdulillah no more prisons no more jails no more killings no more persecution very good alhamdulillah mashallah today we salute the effort of many many thousands of Syrian people salute their sacrifice their commitment their martydom their struggle more than 54 years of struggle of Hope of praying of sacrificing of giving whatever they can looking forward for a day like this day thank you Allah thank you God for the freedomb my dear brother and sisters the prayers have been answered Allah has answered the prayers of so many and Allah is he will correct the situation no one should take the name of God and act like Jabar on the earth because Allah Allah doesn't like to see someone doing Injustice Allah God doesn't like to see Injustice done against any human being God has created us from male and female and made us Nations and tribes in order for us to celebrate each other to get to know each other to love each other to respect each other Syria consists of people of different races and ethnicities and even faith we all need to live in peace today we are thankful to God for the victory for the freedom for the for the beautiful news but we pray to God that the future of s will be a bright and beautiful and peaceful future the people of Syria we all have to work together for Unity to embrace each other not to be afraid to embrace each other not to be afraid to listen to each other not to be afraid to spread love and mercy and unity and forgiveness and to Pardon each other may God bring future for Syria may God keep the love of the people of Syria may God give us you know safety after the fear and may God bring happiness to the people of Syria they suffered a lot so many years of suffering it is time for the suffering to end We Are Tonight today celebrating this beautiful event with our prayers with our Unity by thanking God the most important thing and praying and having best wishes for the future we pray to God for our brother and sister in Gaza in Palestine may God end The Siege may God end the aggression end the atrocities and all types of violence and bring peace and may God help them and help all those who are struggling for their freedom am mean am me amen I would like to thank our community our you know mayor our organizers of this peaceful program what beautiful things to get together to celebrate our Humanity to celebrate our Brotherhood and Sisterhood to celebrate our victory over Shan over wrong over Injustice may God help us to be cause of Justice cause of Peace cause of Hope to other people and may Allah bless the people of Syria congratulation for the people of [Applause] Syria no was expecting this news but alhamdulillah God give us things without our expectation all all praise be to God let us work together inshallah to build Syria to rebuild Syria to establish beautiful Syria may God bless our country and may God bless our mayor and the organizer of this program and our community and strengthen our Brotherhood and Sisterhood may Allah bless the Syrian people am me me congratulations is [Applause] alhamdulillah thank you next I'd like to call up um councilman at large fed Adan to welcome him to [Applause] the this is a new beginning and Syrian people are the examples of end of a dictatorship you are the example for The Many Nations existing at this point seeking for Freedom am I correct yes we ended assads Syria is belong to all of us Syria is belong to all of us you set the example that people's power over any kind of power and we have to be United at this point to rebuild Syria this transition period is not going to be easy you know that we don't want to make sure we want to make sure that Assad are not coming back in any other form it's always happen as us transform their shapes and come back we want to make sure that assar are not coming back any other shapes it's people's time people's power Syria just know this Syrian people are not strong just in Patterson or our neighbor towns not only in the United States but globally you said the examples I want to thank you all for your commitment to your Nations and set an example that we have to be committed to our Nations and I would like to thank you those who fought for our freedom today and we have to pray for the Departed soul and again Syrian people we all are syrians to rebuild this country anything we can do we have to be together so again we all are free [Applause] next up we have mayor Andre sa of the great city of [Applause] Patterson I have a question for you very important question or H all right we're not here to fight we're not here to fight maybe it's from Hal they make it really good in Hal too right listen we're here to celebrate we can have it wherever it's from today the humos tastes better the tabula tastes better and the kib tastes better as well and go get it from Nores they're very good today we stand in solidarity because we celebrate victory victory for human rights victory for justice and victory for Freedom the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr is famous for saying that Injustice anywhere is a threat to Justice everywhere and so today we're proud that justice will prevail in Syria we want democracy to Prevail in Syria and I have the honor of introducing a young man who's very courageous as a matter of fact I think it was last year he made headlines when he was not allowed in the White House well I got news for you after January 20 they're probably not going to let you in the white house again either but he's always welcome anywhere here in Patterson because the young man is a profile and courage the young man took a principal position when it wasn't popular but he was not elected to do what was popular he's elected to do what is right yes and he was on the right side ladies and gentlemen the mayor of Prospect Park manal [Applause] alhamdulillah alhamdulillah alhamdulillah alham alhamdulillah and I apologize for speaking Arabic first may I will I will translate like [Music] [Applause] [Applause] can let me start by thanking mayor Saia and the municipal Council and all of our dignitaries who are here with us and our clergy and our host committee led by our face sister Nal thank you very much for doing an outstanding job and all the young men and women who have been working in the background to make sure that we have a proper celebration thank you very much for everything that you have done thank you thank you so much thank you we love you they're reminding me that we have T-shirts here if anybody wants to buy later it's supporting the event in the evening and I invite you all to the event in the evening we sell later s later later right now we we're speaking and then we're going to raise the flag so that being said let me tell you about the real Syria yes the area where we all are brothers and sisters despite what that NIS regime said about us in the mid99s mayor I had the honor and the pleasure of visiting Syria after not being there for about 14 years and I joined a wrestling camp there and on our way from halab to humus for a wrestling tournament we were chanting Nashid so on and so forth when we got to the hotel my roommate said I feel like I'm one of you I said what are you talking about he said I'm Christian but there were there were he was chanting religious songs with us that's the Syria that I know and love where we all get along that we don't ask each other about sex religion background we're all Syrian and that's the Syria that you see here we will resolve jibbon issue after we built we will resolve it once and for all when we could do proper research not going to happen ever we will get there but now is the day we honor all of our Marts that regime never distinguished between Muslim Christians Shia ala they cre issue as a matter of fact you have Dr and the family they both fled Syria around the time that regime was established and they're both with us here celebrating together showing that we're United that we are one nation and we pray to Allah subhanahu waala we have never forgotten we will never forget the Arab leaders have used the issue of Palestine to oppress their people as resistance is it working it's working as resistance preventing people from advocating for their brothers and sisters only to stay in power so we assure our Palestinian brothers and sisters she that you are our number one [Applause] cause so we thank you mayor on behalf of myself and all of the Sy community and you are one of us and we salute you for your leadership and let's honor all the martyrs all those who suffered by despite the Fallen regime by raising the flag of the revolution [Music] [Applause] everybody ready go for [Music] it dayss [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] beah me some wind [Music] [Music] [Music] BL the [Music] BL for [Music] [Music] oh nice do nice do soon [Applause]