On Sunday, many Syrians across the country celebrated as they toppled and stomped on statues of Hafez al-Assad, the deceased father of current President Bashar al-Assad. Hafez ruled Syria for nearly thirty years until 2000, when his son Bashar took control. This event marked a powerful moment for a nation that has lived under the harsh rules of the Assad family for over fifty years.
In their capital city, Damascus, people were excited to stand on a broken statue of Hafez, expressing their hope for a brighter future. The celebrations followed reports from rebels, who said Bashar al-Assad had fled the country amid fighting that led to the capture of city after city by the opposition forces.
Bashar al-Assad became president in 2000 after his father’s death and has been in power since then. Since 2011, he has responded to peaceful protests with violence, turning the country into a battlefield and creating one of the deadliest conflicts in recent history, which has killed hundreds of thousands and forced millions to leave their homes.
Hafez al-Assad began his rule in 1970 after a coup. He built a powerful and cruel government where anyone who opposed him could be arrested or killed. Even after he died, many statues and pictures of him were everywhere in Syria, reminding citizens of his long rule.
Recently, the removal of Hafez’s statues has spread beyond Damascus. In cities like Jaramana and Aleppo, protesters celebrated as they brought down his statue, cheering and applauding. In Daraa, where protests began in 2011, a rebel fighter was even seen dragging one of Hafez’s statues behind his motorbike!
In Hama, where a terrible massacre happened in 1982, rebels cheered as they took down another statue. Young people celebrated, shouting “freedom forever.” They also drove cars through the streets, passing buildings with murals of Bashar al-Assad.
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