A SYRIAN family fleeing war has described Clydebank as “paradise” in an interview on television.

Mosaab, his wife Nada and their three children have been adjusting to life in the town after arriving last year.

They are among other families who have been welcomed to the town from war-ravaged Syria.

In an interview on BBC News their surnames were not used because they fear speaking out may put their family members still in Syria at risk.

Mosaab was a tiler and self-employed lorry driver in Syria. Before the war, he says life was good, living together in peace. They would take trips to the coast and go to the countryside to pick olives straight from the tree.

He said: “I lost friends in the war, our house was destroyed and I was fleeing from place to place looking for a shelter.

“Even when I moved to a new place seeking safety for my children, after a while they started bombing there too so I decided to leave for a new country so at least my children would not to hear the sounds of explosions.

“I and my wife were swapping shifts to take care of my children during the night in case they woke up scared from the sounds of explosions.”

The family fled to Lebanon, paying bribes to the border guards. Mosaab hired a car to work as a taxi driver there until they were offered safe passage to Scotland. 

They are now building a new life for themselves in Clydebank and have praised the people of the town for welcoming them.

In the interview, he tells how he would have been dead if he had not fled his hometown to the city of Homs to escape combat.

He then went onto describe the difference between Syria and Clydebank as “hell and paradise”.

Mosaab’s 12-year-old daughter has been learning her first words in English and will soon be able to start attending high school.

She said: “I would like to say to the Scottish people ‘thank you’ – and I hope we will be a good example for the Scottish people.

“I am so glad to live in Scotland and meet Scottish people. I am happy because they settled us with Scottish neighbours to learn their language.

“We just miss our families and relatives because we are far away from them but the nice way in which the Scottish people have treated us fills that space in our lives.”

Scottish families in their block of flats have given the children scooters to play on. Volunteers from the Knit for Unity group have been knitting hats and scarves, with volunteers at the Maryhill Integration Network also helping them to settle in.

Syrian Munir Enkideh is one of them and well-placed to give advice on starting a new life here because he did the same himself three years ago. He offers them Halal meat, Syrian bread and friendship.

The family have only praise for the community in Clydebank and Mosaab feels they can look forward to a future.