Watch: Damascus mosque sees first Friday prayers after Assad regime toppled
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Your support makes all the difference.Watch as Damascus residents prayed at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus on the first Friday (13 December) after rebels ousted Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Syrians are celebrating the demise of Assad’s government after 13 years of civil war sparked by the president’s violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters following the Arab Spring.
A rebel coalition took control of the capital Damascus in a lightning offensive overnight on Sunday, 11 days after launching a major operation.
Sir Keir Starmer has welcomed the end of Assad’s “barbaric regime.”
Russia, a close ally that has propped up the regime for years, said Assad left the country after negotiations with rebel groups and had given instructions to transfer power peacefully.
Mohammed al-Bashir has been named as the country’s interim leader and tasked with ushering in a stable government.
In a brief address on state television on Tuesday, he announced that representatives of the rebels and the ousted government had agreed for him to act as caretaker until 1 March.
"Today we held a cabinet meeting that included a team from the Salvation government that was working in Idlib and its vicinity, and the government of the ousted regime," he said.
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