Tens of thousands of Syrians have taken to the streets across Syria to celebrate their newfound freedoms five days after rebels toppled the 54-year long Bashar al-Assad regime.
In the Umayyad mosque in the heart of the old city of Damascus, one of the holiest religious sites in the Islamic world, thousands of people gathered for the first Friday prayers since Assad fled the country on Sunday, which has been named the country’s “freedom day.”
In a short speech, the rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani – using his birth name Ahmed al-Sharaa and wearing a double-breasted vest in place of his usual military fatigues – told Syrians that they should take to the streets to celebrate. It was the group that al-Jolani heads – Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – that led the 12-day rebel offensive that caused the downfall of the Assad regime.
