STUTTGART: Rayyan Alshebl made his first contact with Germany in 2009, watching Bayern Munich football matches on television in Syria.
A few years later, he would seek refuge there after a civil war in his home country forced him to flee.
Today, he is not only a German citizen but mayor-elect of Ostelsheim — a village of 2,500 near the city of Stuttgart — making him probably the first Syrian refugee to be elected for public office.
