Falafel shop gives Syrians a taste of pre-war Raqqa
Four decade-old shop has withstood war
Raqqa is still mostly a sinister ghost town of gutted buildings and rubble-strewn streets, but there is one place teeming with activity in the Syrian city: Ammar Qassab’s falafel shop.
“We reopened almost two weeks ago,” the 33-year-old said, as one of his employees spooned balls of yellow chickpea mixture from a battered, bullet-pierced vat and dipped them in searing oil. Only a few months ago, the northern Syrian city was still the inner sanctum of Daesh’s now defunct “caliphate”.
A huge military operation defeated the militants but also left the city completely disfigured.
Once home to around 300,000 people, Raqqa’s neighbourhoods were empty when it was declared retaken in mid-October.
Three months on, despite the lack of infrastructure and the threat of unexploded mines and bombs, a few hundred families are attempting to return.
“I cannot say how happy it makes me to see people return to the city and come here again,” said Qassab.
He sells around 1,200 falafel sandwiches a day, a number he explained was the result of recent returnees not having working kitchens to prepare their own food.
King Falafel was itself a food landmark in Raqqa for more than four decades.
It stayed open even after militants took over the city in 2014 but had to close a year ago as fighting to oust Daesh got closer.