Hope and Caution in Damascus: Syrians Mark One Year Since al‑Assad’s Exit

Hope and Caution in Damascus as Syrians Commemorate One Year Since al‑Assad's Exit

Around Umayyad Square in central Damascus, children leaned from windows waving Syria’s green, white and black flag as fireworks lit the evening sky. Though the official anniversary of the capital’s liberation falls on December 8, crowds began gathering days in advance.

Standing apart from the celebrations was 24‑year‑old Abu Taj. Ten years earlier his home in the Aleppo countryside had been destroyed in fighting between regime forces and anti‑al‑Assad fighters. He fled to Damascus, then Beirut, and later joined his father in Saudi Arabia. After a decade away — eight years in Saudi Arabia and two studying in Egypt — he returned to Syria just over a week before the anniversary events.

On the final Friday before the anniversary he prayed at the Umayyad Mosque and then came to the city’s main gathering point to watch the festivities.

“The culture of the country is now for the people,” he told Al Jazeera, expressing his joy at the country's new direction.

One year ago the al‑Assad era ended. With the regime’s collapse went a brutal security apparatus long accused of systematic torture and enforced disappearances. For many Syrians, its fall felt like a long‑awaited release — the first such collective exhalation since Hafez al‑Assad took power in 1970.

The early weeks after liberation mixed jubilation with anxiety about what would come next. Analysts compared possible outcomes to post‑invasion Iraq or post‑Gaddafi Libya. Few expected U.S. sanctions to be lifted quickly, particularly with Ahmed al‑Sharaa — a figure once sought by U.S. authorities — in a senior government position.

Tragedy also shadowed the year. Widespread sectarian violence flared along the Syrian coast in March and again in Suwayda in July. In both instances, forces said to be aligned with the new authorities fanned tensions, triggering revenge killings and targeted attacks on minority communities. Another incident nearly destabilised Homs last month before government mediation helped calm the situation.

Despite these setbacks, the symbolism of the anniversary was palpable. Across Damascus the green, white and black flag was ubiquitous: children’s faces painted in its vertical stripes outside the Umayyad Mosque, vendors in Marjeh Square distributing flags, and families converging on the capital to celebrate and reunite.

Omran, 22, from Deir Az Zor, had recently returned from Lebanon and had not seen his mother in nine years. Sitting in Marjeh Square with his brother Bahaeddine and their mother, he said they planned to attend the main celebrations on December 8.

“We will all be so happy, thank God,” he told Al Jazeera.

Thousands of young people in minivans and on scooters streamed toward the historic roundabout near Umayyad Square, where wreckage from an Israeli strike on the Ministry of Defence in July remains visible. Abdelaziz al‑Omari, 21, from the Palestinian camp of Yarmouk, stood in the roundabout holding a pole flying Syrian and Palestinian flags.

“We came here today to celebrate the anniversary of the liberation. We were oppressed, but now our sadness has been released,” he said.

Festivities — car horns, cheering and fireworks — continued into the early hours. Storms swept over Damascus on Saturday afternoon, with showers forecast for Sunday; weather services expected clearer skies by Monday for the anniversary itself.

Many attendees carry vivid memories of hardships endured under the former regime and cautious hopes that life will improve. Standing in Umayyad Square, lawyer Rahma al‑Taha acknowledged that early post‑liberation days lacked security but said conditions had been gradually improving.

“Everything is better, and every month we’re seeing new things,” she said. “There is hope.”

Context Note: The article reports on public sentiment in Damascus and incidents over the past year, including sectarian violence and security challenges. It aims to convey both the celebratory atmosphere around the anniversary and the unresolved tensions that have accompanied the transition.