Syrian president celebrates fall of Assad in military uniform

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Syrians celebrated the first anniversary of Bashar al-Assad’s fall with mass dawn gatherings in the early hours of Monday. The country’s new president Ahmed al-Sharaa wore a military uniform as he led a congregational prayer at Damascus’s Umayyad Mosque.

Sharaa delivered a speech at the renowned mosque following the dawn prayer.

"He expressed the sense of pride Syrians experienced during the initial moments of the defeat of tyranny and the end of a difficult chapter the country had endured," according to a statement from his office.

The interim president, wearing the same military uniform he wore during the fight with Assad's regime, reaffirmed his commitment to safeguarding Syria’s unity “from north to south and east to west,” reported the state-run al-Ikhbariya TV.

"He pledged to work on building a Syria that befits its present, history, and heritage, while supporting the oppressed and achieving justice among citizens," it added.

Public squares across provinces were filled at sunrise on Monday, with crowds raising the new Syrian flag and holding portraits of those killed in the uprising, the state-run television reported, saying the people held up banners "supporting the unity of Syria, inclusive of all its components and geographical borders."

Following a swift offensive, a coalition of opposition forces led by the now-dissolved Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) - then led by Sharaa - toppled Assad’s regime on December 8, 2024. In late January, Sharaa was appointed interim president.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said in a statement early Monday that despite efforts to build a new Syria some people continue to spread hatred.

“While Syrians are busy building a new future, the language of incitement and hatred is still being used by some of the authorities' cronies and those close to them who are trying to recycle the same discourse of division. Those who still think with the mentality of the moment, without any serious reading of Syria's future or the changes of reality, insist on following the same methods that destroyed the country and led its people to disaster,” said the SDF.

“This convulsive and condescending discourse is no longer acceptable, and cannot be a basis for building a new homeland, but rather a direct continuation of the regime's mentality that has fallen and will not return,” it added.

Mazloum Abdi, Commander of SDF, on Sunday congratulated the people of Syria on the anniversary, saying that it “affirms the Syrians’ determination to build a future based on justice, stability, partnership, and the protection of the rights of all communities.”

In a post on X, he renewed his call for a “comprehensive dialogue” to establish a “democratic, decentralized” Syria. He also reaffirmed the Kurdish-led force’s commitment to the March 10 integration agreement with Damascus.

The landmark deal, signed by Abdi and Sharaa, Abdi and Sharaa, aimed at bringing all civil and military institutions in northeast Syria (Rojava) - including the SDF - under centralized state control and establishing a nationwide ceasefire

Despite a ceasefire, there have been dozens of clashes between the SDF and Damascus-affiliated forces.

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday praised the “resilience and courage of the Syrian people, who never stopped nurturing hope despite enduring unimaginable hardship,” saying the past year proved that “meaningful change is possible when Syrians are empowered and supported in driving their own transition.”

While warning that the transition "remains fragile amid continuing insecurity and sporadic violence," Guterres urged the world to “stand firmly behind this Syrian-led, Syrian-owned transition,” reaffirming a shared commitment to a “free, sovereign, united, and inclusive Syria.”

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