Thousands take to the streets in Syria to commemorate the first anniversary of the fall of Al Assad

Thousands of people took to the streets in Syria this Monday to celebrate the first anniversary of the fall of the regime of Bashar al Assad, who fled to Russia on December 8, 2024 in the face of the advances of jihadists and rebels from the province of Idlib (northwest), who managed to take the capital in about two weeks of lightning offensive.

The rallies have taken place in Damascus and other cities in the country, coinciding with several military parades organized by the new authorities, headed by the leader of Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), Ahmed al Shara, without for now there being any information about incidents or problems during the celebration of these events.

The main military parade took place on the Meze highway in Damascus, where Al Shara himself traveled along with several ministers to witness the celebrations, which were joined by thousands of people waving the country’s new flag, as reported by the Syrian television network Syria TV.

These parades have also taken place in the provinces of Homs, Hama, Aleppo, Idlib and Latakia, with the deployment of helicopters and paratroopers, hours after the transitional president gave a speech from the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus in which he promised to “rebuild Syria as a strong nation.”

For his part, the Syrian Minister of the Interior, Anas Khatab, has stated that the country “finds itself before history” to “write a new page.” “The dawn of liberation has emerged after the darkness through great sacrifices and heroic deeds that will not be erased from memory,” he noted in a message on his account on the social network X.

“On this glorious day, we congratulate you on this victory and we congratulate Syria on its return to its former glory. It is a day of joy and pride, but we must realize that liberation is not the end, but the beginning of the battle of construction,” he noted, while calling for “maximum awareness and responsibility” in the face of the “great national obligation” within the framework of the transition.

Al Assad’s flight took place after almost fourteen years of a war unleashed by his bloody repression of pro-democracy protests in the wake of the ‘Arab Spring’. The transitional president has promised after coming to power to work to accelerate reconstruction and reactivate the economy, mired in a serious crisis.