Syrians across the country on Sunday tore down and trampled on statues of President Bashar al-Assad’s late father, Hafez, who established the brutal government system his son inherited. People cheered as they stood at a broken statue of former President Hafez al-Assad in the capital Damascus, a deeply symbolic moment for a country that has been ruled harshly by his clan for five decades.
The Islamist-led rebels declared that Bashar al-Assad had been forced to leave the country. They seized city after city from his control, and this is what happened with their arrival in Damascus. After five decades in power, most Syrians cannot remember a time when the Assad family was not in power. Statues of Hafez al-Assad were toppled in other cities across the country even before the rebels announced the fall of Damascus.
The scenes are reminiscent of the 2003 US military vehicles in Iraq removing a statue of former dictator Saddam Hussein. At that time, excited Iraqis in Baghdad helped as the US-led military coalition entered Baghdad. Protesters in the Jaramana Valley in Damascus cheered and chanted as they toppled a statue of the late Syrian leader. The footage was posted on social media and verified by AFP.
In Aleppo, northern Syria, photos show people tearing down statues of Bashar al-Assad’s brother Bassel and one of their fathers. Online images verified by AFP in Daraa, the epicenter of the 2011 uprising in southern Syria, show a rebel fighter riding a motorbike dragging a fallen statue of Hafez al-Assad along the street. The large metal statue was hollow, making it appear to be relatively light to pull. In the port city of Tartus, protesters destroyed a statue of the former president, said local resident Odeh al-Khatib.
‘Freedom’
Bashar al-Assad has ruled Syria since inheriting power from his father in 2000. Since 2011, he has cracked down on a democratic movement that began with peaceful protests. The Assad government’s crackdown on protests turned into the bloodiest war of the century, killing millions and displacing millions. Hafez al-Assad seized power in a 1970 uprising and established a mad and brutal regime in which anyone suspected of dissent could be imprisoned or killed.
Long after his death, his statue and image remained a powerful symbol of the Assad clan’s hold on Syria. His portrait, often alongside his son, was displayed on walls, in institutions, offices and schools across the country. In the city of Hama, the site of a 1982 massacre by the army, rebels celebrated earlier this week by tearing down a statue of Assad as they captured the city. Young people celebrated the rebel capture of Hama, chanting “freedom forever.”
Fighters paraded in vehicles that appeared to be completely covered in desert dust along a wide street near a building with a mural of Bashar al-Assad.
