Syrians on P.E.I. cautiously optimistic for loved ones back home [Video]

It was business as usual at Black & White Convenience and Take-out in Charlottetown on Monday, but the Syrian owners had much more on their minds than shawarma and tabouli.

Brothers Michael and Tafik Al Mayaleh have been glued to the news and keeping in touch with friends and family in their homeland after Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s authoritarian regime was toppled by rebels on Sunday, bringing what they hope is an end to 14 years of civil war.

So far, they said, everyone seems cautiously optimistic.

“It was a bad situation, and it’s still bad, but we hope it gets better than before,” Tafik said.

The brothers are among hundreds of Syrians on P.E.I. who fled their country in hopes of a better life in Canada.

Many left Syria to avoid the fighting and Assad’s crackdown on dissent. The United Nations says his forces have killed more than 350,000 opponents, jailed and tortured countless thousands more, and used banned nerve gas on opposition towns …