Thousands gather in Damascus square to celebrate one year anniversary of Bashar Assad’s fall

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(8 Dec 2025) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ASSOCIATED PRESS Damascus, Syria – 8 December 2025 1. Various drone shots of crowds gathered at Umayyad square waving Syrian flags ++MUTE++ 2. Men singing and dancing in celebration 3. Various of crowds holding Syrian flags 4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Sanaa al-Ali, Damascus resident: “Today is the most beautiful and special day for Syrians. I am very happy and I feel that I belong to my homeland.” 5. Various drone shots of military parade ++MUTE++ 6. Various of military parade 7. Woman applauding during military parade 8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Moath al-Obaidi, Damascus resident: “We cannot describe or measure the happiness that myself and everyone else here feels. We have no words to describe it because this is the first time we have seen a military parade by an army whom we love and loves us. Every time they pass by we say may God protect you. Thank God we lived to see a day where we see a military that is here to protect us and not kill us. Thank God, and this is the first anniversary of the ousting of the tyrant, the biggest butcher and child murder the world has seen.” 8. Various of military parade 9. People gathered to watch parade 10. Various of helicopter show STORYLINE: Thousands took to the streets of Damascus on Monday to celebrate the first anniversary of the ousting of former Syrian President Bashar Assad. Crowds of people gathered in the capital, dancing and singing in joy as they waved flags to mark the occasion. A military parade was also held with troops marching through the streets past cheering crowds as helicopters held demonstrations overhead. "We cannot describe or measure the happiness that myself and everyone else here feels," said Moath al-Obaidi who attended the celebrations. "We have no words to describe it because this is the first time we have seen a military parade by an army whom we love and loves us." Another attendee Sanaa al-Ali, echoed the joy. “Today is the most beautiful and special day for Syrians," she said. "I am very happy and I feel that I belong to my homeland." Assad's downfall came as a shock, even to the insurgents who unseated him. In late November 2024, groups in the country’s northwest — led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist rebel group whose then-leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, is now the country’s interim president — launched an offensive on the city of Aleppo, aiming to take it back from Assad’s forces. They were startled when the Syrian army collapsed with little resistance, first in Aleppo, then the key cities of Hama and Homs, leaving the road to Damascus open. Meanwhile, insurgent groups in the country’s south mobilized to make their own push toward the capital. The rebels took Damascus on December 8 while Assad was whisked away by Russian forces and remains in exile in Moscow. But Russia, a longtime Assad ally, did not intervene militarily to defend him and has since established ties with the country's new rulers and maintained its bases on the Syrian coast. Despite the celebrations the country is struggling to heal a year after the Assad dynasty’s repressive 50-year reign came to an end following 14 years of civil war that left an estimated half a million people dead, millions more displaced, and the country battered and divided. AP video by Ghaith Alsayed Production. by Malak Harb =========================================================== Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/b20a3189ee0a4453a8483d89fda7dbd5