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.
Thousands more gathered in cities across the country.
The celebrations were a deeply symbolic way to mark the dramatic change of power in Syria, nearly a week after insurgents swept into Damascus – ousting the Assad family who had kept an iron grip on the country for five decades.
In the capital. the country’s interim prime minister, Mohammed al-Bashir, delivers the Friday sermon to flag-waving crowds, with a message of unity.
“This is a call for all the loyal people of Syria. We have to put our hands in each other’s hands; we have to collaborate and come together to build Syria,” he says, his voice cracking.
“To return this majestic country to its majestic position among the nations,” he adds.
Under Assad, sermons were tightly controlled and monitored, a fact not lost on the crowd. The symbolism was further amplified by the fact that in the early days of the revolution that precipitated the civil war, protesters would often gather at Umayyad Square. Now, fighters and civilians gathered to listen, many stepping inside the sweeping mosque for the first time ever.
Raghab, 22, a student, says it is the first time her family had prayed in the mosque because of the oversight of the regime.
“I don’t remember a world without war. I grew up in this revolution and civil conflict,” she adds. “Now I have a future. I want to be an architect so I can rebuild this country.”
Many had gathered hoping to catch a glimpse of the rebel commander Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohamed al-Golani, who heads up the largest insurgent force, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). He instead appears in a video congratulating the “great Syrian people for the victory of the blessed revolution”.
“I invite them to head to the squares to show their happiness without shooting bullets and scaring people,” he says. “And then, after, we will work to build this country, and as I said in the beginning, we will be victorious by the help of God.”
HTS, which was once aligned with al-Qaeda but has spent years distancing itself from its jihadi roots, has been working to establish security and start a political transition after leading the charge on the capital early on Sunday. They have also been trying to reassure a fractured society, shocked by Assad’s fall and concerned over extremists among the rebel ranks.
Their fighters are now on the streets, sometimes directing traffic and manning all the security and military buildings – now ransacked and strewn with defaced images of the ousted autocrat.
At Damascus’s biggest roundabout, Umayyad Square, where thousands had gathered, HTS foot soldiers originally from Damascus sit on chairs outside the once feared military judiciary building, where arbitrary sentences, including executions, were handed down.
They recently returned to their families for the first time in more than a decade after fighting across the country since 2012. Pointedly, they rest their feet on the defaced image of Assad that they had torn down from the billboard behind them.
“I was just 15 when I left Damascus. I saw my mother for the first time two days ago. It was indescribable. She didn’t recognise me,” says Abu Hussein, who spent a year in a regime jail in the southern town of Deraa in 2011, where he said they subjected him to electric shocks.
“I can’t believe I’m sitting here in front of the military judicial building, on a broken picture of Assad, hearing the chants of a free Syria. It’s like a dream,” added his friend Abu Osman al-Shami, 30.
One of the major concerns for the future is the level of damage. Even five years ago, experts estimated that the cost of rebuilding Syria could soar to as high as $400bn (£313bn) – dwarfing the annual government budget before the regime collapsed.
Among those worried about this daunting challenge is Raed Salah, head of Syria’s civil defence, the White Helmets, whose volunteers have for years been the first responders to regime strikes. Joining the crowds at Umayyad Square he tells The Independent the White Helmets have saved more than 129,000 people. Since the overthrow of Assad, they have been uncovering abuses in the now opened regime jails and detention centres, including searching the notorious Sednaya prison for remaining inmates.
Looking exhausted, Salah says his feelings are “complicated.”
“It is happiness and heavy responsibility. We were shocked by the level of destruction to the infrastructure. We were shocked by the lack of services.”
He adds that while pulling people out from beneath the rubble had stopped, rebuilding Syria was a more daunting task, saying: “We have entered a new stage of work. Rescuing people’s lives won’t stop. We have to keep going and help people rebuild their lives.”
Friday’s celebrations came as US secretary of state Antony Blinken met with allies in the region, looking to shape the transition and calling for an “inclusive and non-sectarian” interim government.
After talks in Jordan and Turkey – which backs some of the insurgent factions – Mr Blinken arrived in Iraq on a previously unannounced stop. So far, US officials have not held direct meetings with Syria’s new rulers. Winning international recognition for the new government in Syria remains a major goal.
There are also concerns about the deeply fractured society. Fighting still rages between Turkish-backed insurgent factions, uneasily allied with HTS, and the Kurdish-led forces in the northeast, which are backed by US troops.
Since Assad’s fall, Israel has bombed sites across Syria, saying it is trying to prevent weapons from falling into extremist hands. It has also seized a swathe of southern Syria along the border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, calling it a buffer zone.
