AL-SHALCHI: Just next door, 40-year-old Alaa Sloojee fixes a stand of purses he's selling in his shop. His face glows with a wide smile. He says he feels relief that the old regime is gone.

The Music Cafe, which helped lead the fight to overturn the ban on alcohol sales in Damascus, is now the third business to apply for a beer and wine license there.

DAMASCUS, Va. — A Damascus businessman has opened a restaurant in town with the goal of making it a dining destination for the community.

AL-SHALCHI: Just next door, 40-year-old Alaa Sloojee fixes a stand of purses he's selling in his shop. His face glows with a wide smile. He says he feels relief that the old regime is gone.