Egypt Daily News – Syrians arrived at Umayyad Square, which the protesters in 2011 always dreamed of reaching, to be a unifying place where they would unite until the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. However, this dream came at a very high price, with tens of thousands of victims of the regime and detainees in its cells, in addition to millions of displaced people to countries around the world.
Today, that square is filled with thousands, joyful and celebrating the victory, after the followers of the former regime prevented the demonstrators from reaching it at the beginning of the revolution, as they had occupied it in the first year of the protests. Umayyad Square is the largest square in Damascus, where the radio and television building, the opera house, the General Staff, and the National Library are located, with gatherings of loyalists and platforms for giving enthusiastic speeches and singing concerts.
The same applies to Sabaa Bahrat Square, which is considered smaller, but it is in the middle of the commercial heart of Damascus, and the building of the Central Bank of Syria is located there. In those squares, pranks were held under pictures of Assad, while massacres were being committed at the entrances to Damascus to prevent protesters from advancing to its squares, the most prominent of which is The Zabaltani massacre, April 22, 2012, and Abbasid Square turned into an arena of war and clashes.
After 13 years, the dream came true and the Syrians arrived in Umayyad Square, raising the slogan “Victory Friday,” and with them wishes for a “decent” life, withdrawing weapons, stopping revenge, and focusing on building Syria, in a square where fighters coming from Idlib mingled with Commander Ahmed Al-Sharaa and security cars. The roamers, with the civilians who gathered around them, interacting with them and taking pictures with them, cheering with the national flag, and chanting, “Freedom…Freedom.”
Friday prayer
Since the morning, thousands of Syrians have begun to flock to public squares and squares across all Syrian regions to celebrate “Victory Friday,” after the overthrow of the regime of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Thousands of Syrians flocked to the courtyard of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, ahead of Friday prayers, in which the leader of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, Ahmed al-Sharaa, known as Abu Muhammad al-Julani, whose faction leads the new authority in Damascus, and the head of the interim government, Muhammad al-Bashir, participated.
For the first time in Syria’s history, the Prime Minister delivered a Friday sermon at the Umayyad Mosque, which has a historical religious status in the capital, in the presence of more than 60,000 worshipers, according to local media reports.
Al-Bashir spoke about “changing the injustice inflicted on the Syrians, and the Damascenes in particular,” stressing “unity among the various sects of the Syrian people.”
After the prayer, thousands of Syrians poured into the squares, in Damascus and the main cities, to celebrate the getting rid of the Assad regime, in response to official and popular calls, which called for them to rally around the Syrian flag, in a massive and unprecedented public scene in the history of Syria since the Baath Party took power in 1963 with a coup 8 March.
Despite the absence of organization in the crowds in the squares, the regularity of the celebrations was clear: “Every group in a circle sings, chants and dances, raising Syrian flags. In Umayyad Square, the largest square in Damascus, no cases of trespassing or shooting were recorded, despite the presence of very diverse and disparate spectrums and the spread of military and security personnel among the crowds.
The commander of military operations, Ahmed al-Sharaa, nicknamed “Abu Muhammad al-Julani,” called on Thursday evening the Syrian people to go to the squares to celebrate “the victory of the revolution,” and celebrations immediately spread throughout Syrian cities on the first Friday after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Al-Sharaa directed in a video posted on the Internet by the General Command’s handlers: “I would like to congratulate the great Syrian people on the victory of the blessed revolution, and I invite them to go to the squares to express their joy, without shooting bullets and terrorizing people, and then after that, let us go to building this country and as we said it from the beginning: Mansoura, with God’s help.”
Selfie with a masked man
A group of soldiers with uncovered faces from Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham were in the square. They were asked: “After a week, how do you see al-Sham (Damascus)?” They agreed on one answer, which is that it still needs a lot of efforts to recover.
A masked fighter, who sounded like a young man, was very enthusiastic and said: “We are a nation of Islam, and women must be modest.” He said these words while he was surrounded by a group of girls who were taking selfies with him without paying attention to his words!! In the square, people came to take pictures with the fighters, their weapons, and cars camouflaged with battle mud.
AT the end of the day, crowds demanded the execution of Bashar al-Assad. A young man from Daraa enthusiastically confirmed that they would bring “the son of Hafez al-Assad and hold him accountable,” pledging to serve “Al-Malihi,” a popular dish in the squares for which Daraa is famous.
