Syria celebrates Assad's fall as memories of massacres linger

On early Sunday morning, Syrian people took to the streets in different parts of the country to celebrate the victory of their "freedom".

With the collapse of Syria’s Baath regime and the end of the Assad family era, Syrians were seen toppling statues of Hafez al-Assad, the late father of ousted President Bashar al-Assad, in various cities across the country.

The jubilant anti-Assad regime activists and social media users were painting the fall of the regime as a victory for Syria.

From the capital, Damascus, to the Assad family's coastal hometown of Latakia, among other cities, all symbols of the regime are being taken down.

In Damascus, people also stormed the palace of Bashar al-Assad, while celebrations continue in many parts of the country, media reports say.

Syrian state television aired a video statement by a group of men, who said they represented the opposition fighters, announcing the ouster of Bashar al-Assad and the release of all prisoners from jail.

The person who read out the statement called on all opposition members and citizens to protect the institutions of “the free Syrian state."

Memories of a massacre

But it was in Hama where some of the most joyous celebrations were seen.

The city is particularly significant to the family members and survivors who remember the Hama Massacre of 1982, a tragic chapter in Syria’s past when thousands of people were killed by the forces of then-President Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father.

The massacre took place after an uprising in Hama, which posed a challenge to Assad’s rule. In response, the regime besieged the city for weeks, and entire neighbourhoods were destroyed.

In Damascus, a video circulating on social media shows people bowing their heads and kissing the ground, some in tears, some teenagers with wide smiles: a scene that has been alien to this land since as far as the memory serves.

Crowds gathered to pray in the city’s mosques and to celebrate in the squares, chanting: “God is great.”

Many of the capital’s residents were in disbelief at the speed with which Assad’s hold on the country had fallen after nearly 14 years of civil war.

From Idlib to Damascus

“I did not sleep last night and I did not accept to sleep until I heard the news of his fall,” said Mohammed Amer Al-Oulabi.

“From Idlib to Damascus, it only took them (the opposition forces) a few days, thank God. May God bless them, the heroic lions who made us proud.”

Crowds of Syrians gather to celebrate in the central square of Damascus.

In some areas, celebratory gunshots rang out.

“My feelings are indescribable,” said Omar Daher, a 29-year-old lawyer. “After the fear that he (Assad) and his father made us live in for many years and the panic and state of terror that I was living in, I can’t believe it.”

Daher said his father had been killed by Assad forces, and his brother was in detention, his fate unknown.

Assad “is a criminal, a tyrant,” he said.

“Damn his soul and the soul of the entire Assad family,” said Ghazal al-Sharif, another reveller in central Damascus. “It is the prayer of every oppressed person and God answered it today."