The leader of the Islamist-dominated armed coalition that seized power in Syria, Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, today called on Syrians to take to the streets en masse to celebrate the "victory of the revolution."
"I want to congratulate the great Syrian people on the victory of the blessed revolution and I invite them to come out onto the streets to express their joy, without firing shots and without intimidating people," the leader of the Sunni Islamist group Organization for the Liberation of the Levant (Hayat Tahrir al Sham or HTS in Arabic) said in a video.
"After this, we will build this country and, as we have said from the beginning, we will have victory with the help of God," concluded Al-Jolani, whose real name is Ahmad al-Chareh, in his brief message.
Many people have already begun to gather at the historic Umayyad mosque in Damascus, one of the oldest in the Middle East and where a large celebration is planned after Friday prayers.
Al-Jolani is expected to take part in the weekly Friday prayers at the Umayyad mosque.
The rebels declared Damascus free from the regime of President Bashar al-Assad on Monday after a 12-day offensive by a coalition led by HTS. An interim prime minister was appointed on Tuesday to lead a transitional government until March 1.
The Syrian president, who had been in power for 24 years, fled the country in the face of the rebel offensive and went into exile in Russia.
In power for more than half a century in Syria, the Baath party was, for many Syrians, a symbol of repression that began in 1970 with the coup d'état of Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father, who led the country until his death in 2000.
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