damascus, syria
CNN
—
Tens of thousands of people held the party of a lifetime in Umayyad Square in central Damascus on Friday. They filled the roundabout to the brim, partying late into the night and celebrating a moment many thought would never come: the ouster of brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad.
“I always thought I would die, my children would die, and many more generations would die, and he would still be here. That it would never end. I thought so,” student Esraa Al-Sliman told CNN in the square.
“It’s like a dream. Every day I wake up thinking it’s a dream, and today I woke up thinking it was a dream,” she said.
Families came to the square with young children with flags painted on their cheeks. The young students were joined by older people. Women dressed in conservative Muslim fashion celebrated alongside women in trendy Western clothing. Many said they traveled across the country to witness the revelry.
Many were waving the three-star flag of the Syrian Arab Republic. This flag was a rebel flag used during the French mandate, and was replaced by the two-star flag during the Assad regime.
“At this moment, we support each other, stay together, and I sincerely believe that we can reach the top. Syria will leave a good name in the world,” Al-Slimane said. “I always thought that to have a future and live a successful life, I had to go abroad. Now I can stay here, in my country.”
The Assad family has ruled Syria with an iron fist for half a century, with years of documented reports of mass imprisonment, torture, extrajudicial killings, and brutality against its own people.
On Sunday, the government collapsed after 13 years of civil war that divided the country. Rebels declared Damakas “liberated” in a video statement on state television, forcing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to flee to Russia.
A large crowd stormed the square Friday after midday prayers at Damascus’s historic Umayyad Mosque, days after rebel leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani declared “victory for the entire Islamic State” there. began to gather.
The congregational prayers, considered the culmination of Islamic Week, were the first since the fall of Assad’s regime. The sermon at the mosque was delivered by Syria’s new interim prime minister, Mohammed al-Bashir, who called the moment “the birth of a nation.”
But despite the overwhelming joy, there are also signs of the country’s current fragility. The rebel coalition that has occupied Syria is made up of many groups with different ideologies and goals, and no one seems to know for sure what will happen next.
Dozens of armed people in military fatigues took part in the celebration, with some excited young boys posing with Kalashnikovs, while the children flashed bright smiles and victory signs at the camera. .
Occasionally, celebratory gunshots echoed in the sky. At one point in the afternoon, some people in the crowd became angry and appeared to corner a person. “They found a military man!” someone shouted in the crowd.
But soon the crowd was back to dancing, clapping, and singing.
“The donkey’s gone! The donkey! The donkey!” the crowd chanted at one point, but the derogatory nickname for the ousted president would now be shouted out loud in public rather than whispered in secret. Many people still didn’t believe it.
Fatima Baghdadi told CNN she came to the square to witness the moment for herself. The 80-year-old has spent most of her adult life under the regime. One of her sons died in the war, and her grandson also lost a leg in an attack.
“I was 30 years old when the big donkey came to power. For 50 years we were oppressed and I kept praying for God to take him away. And now he is We can breathe again,” she said, her eyes welling up with tears.
Rauda Araita contributed to this report.
