Converging on Syria’s most iconic mosque and spilling into the capital’s best-known square, thousands of Syrians gathered on Friday to mark the start of “a new era” following the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad.
Chanting, “Hold your head up high, you’re a free Syrian,” crowds flocked to the Umayyad Mosque, one of the largest and oldest in the world, for the first Muslim prayers since the spectacular collapse of the ruling regime.
