'Noble and brave' Bondi hero's Syrian home town takes pride from his actions

It has been almost 20 years since Ahmed al-Ahmed left Nayrab, near the northwestern Syrian city of Idlib.

- Ahmad Fallaha Nayrab William Christou Beirut Ben Doherty Sydney

But on Sunday, he was the talk of the town.Nayrab’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 Australia’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, who is 44, left Syria in about 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 his uncle, Mohammad Ahmad al-Ahmed. He describes how, 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.