It's been one month, since Salim Mohamad first set foot in Australia.
He said he remembers the day he touched down in Melbourne with his wife and three children.
"I arrived at the airport, there were many people ahead of me in the queue - and my English language was not so good," Salim told the .
He was nervous, but the daunting experience became easier when he noticed his children's reaction to their new home.
"My children were happy and exchanged smiles with the people receiving us. I cannot express how much I was happy at those moments," he said.
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In early 2012, Salim decided it was time to leave his homeland. He fled with his family to Lebanon in February that year.
"The situation in Syria was then very bad. Many troubles occurred to us that forced me to leave Syria and I saw death many times." he said.
He is one of more than a million Syrian refugees that have fled Syria for neighbouring Lebanon.
He and his family felt safer there, but Salim said they faced more problems on arrival.
"Initially, they had a positive attitude towards the Syrian refugees but later it changed and turned bad," he said.
The population of Syria is estimated to be approximately 16 million, down from 23 million prior to the outbreak of civil war in 2011.
Refugees have fled across borders and seas to find safety. Of those still living in Syria, about 10 million people are believed to in government-held districts and two million each are in IS, non-IS rebel and Kurdish territory.
"My mum is still there in Syria. A sister of mine is now in Switzerland as a refugee, a brother is in Germany as a refugee and another brother had arrived here a year earlier than me." Salim said.
Despite the pain of leaving his mother, and a wealthy and comfortable life in Syria, he said has no regrets.
“I led good life in Syria and it was hard to flee, but one should flee for his life and life must continue.”
