Syrians have been jubilant on Sunday after the capital metropolis of Damascus woke as much as chanting, cheering and celebratory gunfire with Bashar Assad overthrown by anti-regime forces.
“I can’t believe I’m living this moment,” tearful Damascus resident Amer Batha instructed AFP by cellphone from the capital’s Ummayad Square, the place witnesses stated dozens of individuals had gathered to have fun.
“We’ve been waiting a long time for this day,” stated Batha, because the alliance of anti-regime forces and a battle monitor declared the tip of many years of Assad household rule amid 13 years of grinding civil battle.
“We are starting a new history for Syria,” Batha added.
At the daybreak name to prayer, some mosques have been broadcasting spiritual chants often reserved for festive events, whereas additionally urging residents to remain dwelling with the town engulfed in uncertainty simply hours into the takeover.
The armed group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied factions have pressed a lightning offensive since Nov. 27, sweeping swathes of the nation from authorities management, together with main cities Aleppo, Hama and Homs and getting into the capital Damascus early Sunday.
In extraordinary photos, armed group members introduced on state tv that that they had toppled “tyrant” Assad, who battle monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated had “fled.”
From the backyard of a shopping mall, dozens of Damascenes have been celebrating, chanting “Allahu akbar,” or God is biggest, and standing on a smashed statue of Assad’s father Hafez that that they had torn down, AFP footage confirmed.
Gunmen unfold out by some Damascus streets, capturing into the air and chanting, “Syria is ours and not the Assad family’s.”
No extra worry
Residents instructed AFP that dozens of troopers, from the Assad authorities’s forces, had rapidly taken off their navy uniforms and left the Ummayad Square headquarters.
A former worker stated that the state tv and radio buildings have been empty.
Five sturdy explosions have been heard within the capital early Sunday, with a fleeing soldier, requesting anonymity, saying it was in all probability artillery or blasts from a munitions depot.
“Our direct superior told us to leave and go home, so we knew it was over,” he instructed AFP.
In Damascus’s picturesque Old City, dwelling to a small Christian neighborhood, younger folks within the streets have been chanting “Syrian people are one,” a message of reassurance to minority teams within the multi-confessional nation.
Elsewhere, within the Shaghur neighborhood, girls ululated from balconies, some throwing rice on passing fighters who have been capturing into the air.
Ilham Basatina, 50, stated she could not consider that “after today,” she wouldn’t longer should “be afraid.”
“There is huge happiness today, and it won’t be complete until the criminal has been held to account,” she stated from her balcony, referring to Assad.
‘Culture of worry’
In the road, fighters in fatigues have been kissing the bottom, praying or taking pictures as gunfire rang out.
Many Syrian media employees, authorities workers and members of parliament rapidly modified their profile footage on social media, changing them with the opposition flag.
Waddah Abd Rabbo, editor-in-chief of the pro-government on-line each day al-Watan, wrote on social media: “Syrian media and media workers are not guilty. They, and we with them, were only carrying out instructions and publishing the news they sent us.”
Assad’s Baath get together dominated with an iron fist, closely curbing freedoms together with freedom of the press, with solely state media or shops near the federal government permitted to function.
Famous Syrian actor Ayman Zeidan, who hadn’t publicly criticized the Assad rule earlier than, wrote on Facebook: “How delusional I was. Perhaps we were prisoners of a culture of fear, or maybe we feared change because we imagined it would lead to blood and chaos.”
“But here we are, entering a new phase with men who impressed us with their nobility… and the desire to restore the unity of the Syrian people,” he added.
Source: www.dailysabah.com