They don't know what tomorrow will bring, but they are sure of one thing: it won't be worse. Umayyad Square in Damascus, several hundred people gathered waving flags in the colors of the “revolution”, celebrating the entry of the country ravaged by thirteen years of civil war into a year 2025 placed under the sign of “the hope “.
At midnight, shots fired from Mount Qassioun, overlooking the capital, mixed with the thunder of fireworks lighting up the night sky. “Long live Syria, Assad has fallen”, chant children, in reference to the fall of power of Bashar al-Assad, overthrown on December 8 by a coalition of Islamist rebel groups.
“The Syrians have found a smile again”
“We didn't expect such a miracle to happen, today the Syrians are smiling again,” says Layane al-Hijazi, a 22-year-old agricultural engineering student, in Umayyad Square.
“We were able to obtain our rights, we can now speak. I let off steam these last three weeks and this evening by bringing out everything I had buried during almost 14 years” of war, adds the young woman.
A good-natured atmosphere
In the streets of the Syrian capital where the celebrations take place in a good-natured atmosphere, the new security forces in military fatigues make their rounds, rifles on their shoulders and sometimes brandishing flags of the “revolution”.
On the Umayyad Square, these flags also float in the air, attached to the cars which continue to arrive despite the traffic jams. Three bands of color, green, white, black, stamped with three red stars.
Barely a month ago, it would have been unthinkable to see this flag of independence, symbol of the revolt of the Syrian people, flying in a capital held with an iron fist by the power of the Assads.
“Whatever happens, it will be better than before”
“Whatever happens, it will be better than before,” summarizes Imane Zeidane, 46, designer. “I am starting the new year with serenity and optimism, I have confidence in this government,” adds the Syrian, who came with her husband and their daughter to the Umayyad Square.
“Before there were celebrations, but not like this. The joy is double now, we celebrate the new year with all our hearts, we celebrate the hope it brings.” In the square resonates the revolutionary song “Lift your head, you are a free Syrian”, by Syrian singer Assala Nasri.
“I hope that the Syria of 2025 will be a non-confessional, pluralistic Syria, for all, without exception,” says Havan Mohammad, a Kurdish student from Qamishli in the north-east of the country, who came to Damascus to continue his studies. studies in pharmacy.
