STORY: :: This Syrian man hit an attacker in Austria
with his car to prevent further harm
:: February 16, 2025
:: Villach, Austria
:: Alaaeddin al-Halabi, Food delivery driver and Austrian resident
“While I was driving on Villach Bridge, I noticed a commotion, something that seemed unnatural. I looked to the right and saw two people, first I saw someone on the ground, but I didn’t pay much attention. I drove forward a bit and started driving very slowly because there were many people, some running, some scared, and some were shouting for help”
“I saw a person with a knife in front of me threatening people. I immediately understood what was happening – there were people on the ground bleeding, and this person was waving the knife in a threatening manner.”
“I immediately drove toward him and hit him with my car. The good thing is that the impact wasn’t too strong, thank God. I mean, the goal of hitting him with the car was just to neutralise him or stop what he was doing. The goal wasn’t to harm anyone.”
“People look at me as a hero, but I don’t see it that way. I say to people, please, if something like this happens again, you have to do something. You can’t just stand there, take photos and film videos.
Alaaeddin al-Halabi, a food delivery driver who left Syria in 2015 and moved to Austria, said he was making a delivery on Saturday when he drove past the attack in the centre of the town of Villach and quickly realised something was wrong.
A 14-year-old boy was killed and five others were wounded in the attack. Authorities said the suspect, an asylum seeker also from Syria, had sworn allegiance to Islamic State and was radicalized online.
More harm would have been done had it not been for for al-Halabi, authorities said.
Afterwards, Al-Halabi said he was shocked to see how those around him reacted: “People attacked me after the incident – people on the street thought I was carrying out an attack like what happened in Germany.”
Al-Halabi said he then called the police, who arrived at the scene a few minutes later and arrested the suspect.
Al-Halabi, who has been living in Villach for the past eight years, said he didn’t know the suspect was also from Syria. “I’m sorry that someone from Syria did something like that,” he said.
