Hero celebrated in Syria after Bondi intervention

Ahmed al-Ahmed, a 44-year-old father who emigrated from al-Nayrab, Syria to Australia in 2007, has been hailed as a hero after videos showed him wrestling a rifle from a gunman during the Bondi beach attack. Ahmed, who ran a fruit and vegetable shop in Sydney, crept closer using cars for cover before disarming one of the shooters and was shot at least twice in the shoulder during the struggle. He was treated in hospital, visited by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and an online fundraiser for his medical bills has raised over £1.2m.

Back in al-Nayrab — a village heavily damaged in Syria’s civil war where Ahmed’s own home is ruined — locals said his actions proved that faith or birthplace are no bar to courage. The Bondi attack, allegedly carried out by Sajid Akram and his son Naveed and blamed by authorities on Islamic State-inspired motives, killed 15 people; Ahmed’s intervention and survival have been widely shared and praised in both Australia and Syria as a selfless act of bravery, as reported by The Guardian