Across Syria, people came out on Saturday evening to commemorate the anniversary of the uprising against the Assad regime. The regime fell on December 8, 2024, after 50 years in power.
People in Syria are now celebrating the uprising in 2011 that began the Syrian revolution. At the time, protests took place in different places in Syria, beginning in Daraa, in southern Syria. The Assad regime responded by massacring and killing people.
In Damascus, people celebrated in Umayyad Square to mark the anniversary. It is a new era in Syria. There were more celebrations in Homs, Hama, and other areas of eastern Syria. There were fewer celebrations in the Turkish-occupied part of northern Syria.
Syrian state media SANA reported on the importance of the events.
“For the first time since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s criminal and oppressive regime in Syria, Syrian citizens gathered in Umayyad Square in the capital, Damascus, to celebrate the 14th anniversary of the blessed revolution,” the report said. “This gathering affirmed the birth of a new Syria, free from oppression and tyranny.”
Syrians had come from other countries to celebrate, SANA reported.
“Mohammad Shafter, who came from Germany to participate in this celebration, noted that despite the overwhelming joy filling his heart, he misses, at this moment, his brothers, friends, and relatives who took part in the Syrian revolution and were martyred – either in the prisons of the former regime or through targeted attacks during their peaceful demonstrations demanding freedom,” the report said.
According to a woman named Rawan Ahmad, from Deir ez-Zor, “The revolution ended with the fall of the tyrant and the Syrian people attaining their freedom. She stressed that it is now time to launch a new revolution, one centered on construction, reconstruction, combating corruption, and establishing a new social system founded on equality and justice for all components of the Syrian people.”
Another person told SANA: “I want to mark December 8 as a new date of my birth.”
Wael Abu Fadil, from Daraa, the birthplace of the revolution, said although the revolution has won, “its accomplishments will not be complete without bringing the figures of the criminal regime to trial and achieving transitional justice, as a tribute to the blood of the martyrs and the injured. He added that this would mark another day of celebration for Syrians, akin to their celebration of the victory’s anniversary,” the report said.
In Homs, people celebrated and spoke out against the years of oppression they had faced. Light shows, fireworks, and other types of festivities marked the occasion.
A man named Abdul Wahid Abdullah al-Mohammad traveled from eastern Syria’s Hasakah to Damascus to celebrate, SANA reported.
“He explained that the entire Syrian people stand today alongside the state, the army, and the public security forces to confront the remnants of the regime’s attempts to undermine what has been achieved by spreading discord and chaos,” the report said.
In Hama, “thousands gathered Saturday evening in al-Assi Square for a jubilant event under the banner, saying, ‘Peace Prevails, Hope Renewed,’” SANA reported, and in Homs, there was a vehicle procession to commemorate the day.
Not long ago, many Syrians did not think they would ever see this day. Some felt the days of the revolution had passed, and the Syrian regime would maintain its grip on power.
That evaporated in early December 2024, as the regime collapsed after an offensive by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham from Idlib pushed its forces out of Aleppo.
Many Syrians are now hoping for a bright future. They face many challenges. The new government, for instance, recently intercepted drug smugglers in southern Syria.
HTS working on sanctions relief
Syria is also working to receive sanctions relief in the West. It also has to struggle against extremists and internal tensions and divisions.
Israel has made it clear it will not tolerate threats from Syria. The IDF has moved into a buffer zone along the border and taken control of the peak of Mount Hermon.
The United Nations opposes Israel’s actions. UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix called on Israel to respect the 1974 agreement between Israel and the Syrian regime that led to a ceasefire line on the Golan Heights.
“The 1974 disengagement agreement between the Syrian Arab Republic and Israel must be respected and implemented because, at the end of the day, what we want and what our mission in the region requires is to maintain peace and stability there,” he told China Central Television on Saturday.