Less than a week after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, FRANCE 24’s Wassim Nasr travelled to Syria to interview rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, better known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani. Crossing from Aleppo in the north to Damascus in the south, Nasr passed through towns and cities in the newly liberated country, documenting its people and landscapes along the way.
The citadel and ruins of Aleppo, Syria, December 2024. © Wassim Nasr, FRANCE 24
1. Entry into a post-Assad Syria
As soon as news of Bashar al-Assad‘s ouster broke – and with the main airport at Damascus still out of action – I began making plans for how to get into Syria.
I first travelled to Turkey, which borders Syria in the north, before crossing the Bab al-Salameh border post – one of the main border crossings leading into northwest Syria.
Many Syrians – women, men, children and families – had gathered at the Syria-Turkey border as they prepared to return home. Some had their arms full of luggage, while others were empty-handed; some were well-dressed and a few children were barefoot.
Once over the border, I found myself in territories controlled by the Syrian National Army (SNA) but long coveted by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist militant group that spearheaded the lightning offensive that toppled Assad.
There was no need to present myself as a journalist at the checkpoints here, particularly when trying to reach the towns and cities taken over by former opposition groups.
When I crossed the buffer zones with HTS, it was almost impossible to ignore the multitude of petrol and diesel tanks.

Petroleum is a major source of income for SNA factions and a source of conflict with HTS, which levies taxes on oil and petroleum products. The two groups have already clashed over disagreements concerning the region’s petroleum and the control of checkpoints.
But “with the fall of the regime, SNA’s former territories, which ensure their interests and sources of income, have been completely fragmented. Yet it’s clear that now everyone [SNA and HTS] is prioritising the rebuilding of the country,” a rebel commander in northern Syria told FRANCE 24.
In a sign that public opinion and political support is shifting in HTS’s favour, the Bab al-Salameh and the Al-Rai crossings have passed into the hands of Syria’s new leaders, which could not have been achieved without Turkey’s implicit or explicit authorisation.
2. Aleppo, symbol of HTS’s blitzkrieg

The atmosphere in the historic quarter of Syria’s northwestern city of Aleppo was crackling with festivity. We were greeted by the sight of returning Syrians, street vendors, a camel for the tourists, cafés, music (revolutionary or Arabic pop) and the famous shishas. I couldn’t see a trace of the former regime.
A portrait of Syria’s new strongman leader Ahmed al-Sharaa with an inscription “Abu Mohammed al-Fateh [the conqueror] al-Jolani” was stuck to the windscreen of a passing car – a practice that seemed to be flourishing, despite HTS’s repeated attempts to outlaw it.
It was as if Syrians, after over 50 years of the Assad family’s rule, could not yet shake the habit of idolising the country’s leader.

The citadel and its wide, rubbish-strewn moat lies beyond the historic quarter. Once Syria’s economic capital, Aleppo and its surrounding neighbourhoods have been destroyed by four years of fighting, bombing and siege (2012-2016).
Back then, rebel and jihadist groups had only managed to seize Aleppo’s eastern districts before being forced out by the combined force of the Syrian army, militias, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Russian air support.
Nearly 10 years later, Islamist fighters led by HTS retook the city after launching a lightning offensive on November 29.
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To increase their chance of success, rebel forces negotiated beforehand with local militias fighting for Assad’s army.
“There was [also] political preparation of the terrain. Through our blood ties with these Syrian army’s auxiliary units, which held several districts of the city, we convinced them to turn away from the Assad regime,” one of the architects of the rebel forces’ victory said.
“They are Sunnis like us, but they had grievances with certain rebel factions since the start of the revolution, which effectively put them in Assad’s camp. But as time went by, and above all Assad’s sense of omnipotence, they ended up being marginalised within his system of corruption, and we managed to convince them [to join us],” he said.
After an initial meeting in Turkey more than two years ago, the two sides agreed on the final details six months before the start of the offensive.
“Once the regime’s first lines of defence had fallen in Khan al-Assal and Saraqib (both are located strategically on the road connecting Damascus to Aleppo), we warned them before entering each locality, so that they would withdraw, right to the heart of the city’s districts. These contacts, and the fact that the command represented by Ahmed al-Sharaa provided guarantees to those who laid down their arms, enabled the city to be taken quickly without bloodshed, which led to the fall of the regime. After what happened in Aleppo, things accelerated everywhere, right up to the capture of Damascus,” he said.
3. Scenes of jubilation in Damascus

The landscape on the M5 road between Idlib and Damascus was one of ruin and destruction. From Saraqib, Khan Sheikhoun, Suran, Hama, Al-Rastan, Homs, Al-Nabek to Duma and Harasta … villages and towns were destroyed on both sides of the road.
To cross the bridge at Rastan, we had to zigzag between craters the size of a car hanging over the void. Even so, the traffic was heavy. With no more roadblocks or checkpoints in place, Syrians were on the move.

Damascus was also riven with traffic jams. If it wasn’t for the torn portraits and fallen statues of the Assads, it would have been hard to imagine that the Syrian dictatorship that had lasted for more than half a century had just fallen.
The historic Al-Hamidiyah Souq was packed with people. Photos of detainees – freed but still unidentified or missing – from Assad’s jails were plastered on the entrance walls. All the market’s stalls were open and Arab pop music was blaring.

A little further on, young people were chanting revolutionary songs, while people queued at a traditional ice-cream stall. Gadgets, T-shirts, scarves and banners in the colours of the revolution have replaced those of the Assad regime.

Meanwhile a convoy of Turkish armoured 4x4s made its way through the crowd. The Turkish Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, arrived in the capital a few days later.
Photographers beckoned passers-by to take their picture outside the Umayyad Mosque, an edifice steeped in history that stands at the end of the Souq, in the heart of Damascus.

The atmosphere was euphoric and even the armed guards got carried away by the jubilant crowds.
All the official buildings in the Syrian capital were guarded by HTS men.
A woman accompanied by her daughter spoke to one of them: “If the administrative documents are burnt, how are we going to proceed with the procedures already under way?
The guard reassured her: “Auntie, nothing has been burnt here, we’re here to protect the premises, come back on 5 [January], it’ll be open.”
In the evening, a meeting was scheduled with Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.

During the interview with nine foreign journalists, the head of HTS called for the lifting of international sanctions against Syria.
Al-Sharaa, who affirmed that the offensive launched by HTS was “the only option for freeing the country” from Assad’s rule, struck me as the same straightforward man I met over a year and a half ago in Idlib, when he controlled the last rebel stronghold in Syria.
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I also had the opportunity in 2023 to meet, albeit on a confidential basis, with his current Minister of Foreign Affairs – Asaad Hassan al-Shaybani. Trusted by Al-Sharaa, Al-Shaybani is a key player within HTS who helped restructure the group and opening it up to the outside world.
4- Idlib, an experiment in rebel rule
The return to the Idlib region, a former HTS stronghold during the Assad regime, was also plagued by traffic jams. Cars on the road displayed number plates from all over Syria, and even from neighbouring Lebanon.
Syrians were coming to visit Idlib, which some of them fantasise as Syria’s “Kandahar” (the Afghan city under Taliban rule and former al Qaeda stronghold), with its shopping centres and imported products.
In the streets of Idlib, there were no armed men and far fewer police to direct traffic. Most of the policemen had been deployed to Aleppo and Damascus. The city had been almost emptied of its administrative personnel in favour of the newly liberated regions.

Then it was off to Jisr al-Shughur and the Christian villages we visited in 2023. The church in Al-Yacoubiyah, which was undergoing renovation work, had been restored and a nativity scene had been set up for Christmas.
“The cloister rang its bells on December 8 [for the fall of Assad],” said the priest at the Saint-Joseph cloister.
“Someone came to tell me that the bells shouldn’t be rung, but this victory is ours too, and I’ll be ringing them for Christmas too. We have the agreement of the HTS command, so it doesn’t matter to us what anyone says!”
Until two years ago, Christian cloisters and churches were forbidden to ring their bells. But times have changed, as evidenced by the priests’ cassocks, which were still banned in 2023.
“Responsibility for the church in Idlib has been returned to the community and one of the Orthodox churches in Al-Jdayde, which was occupied by foreign jihadists, has also been reclaimed,” the Franciscan priest said.

“Forty Christian families have returned to their villages […] the return of property and land is under way, with more than 140 plots returned, but the demonstrations against HTS in Idlib have slowed down the process, which was already disrupted by the earthquake of 2023”, he said, adding jokingly: “Now all our contacts [at HTS] are in Damascus, so we don’t know who to talk to!”
At the Apostolic Vicariate of Aleppo, which is part of the Latin Church, Bishop Hanna Jallouf had also donned his cassock and cross.
Jallouf, who was abducted along with his parish members and held captive for five days by the al-Nusra Front in 2014, had not forgotten the concerns of his Christian community.

Through his long presence in Idlib, his relationship of trust with HTS and his appointment as Bishop of Aleppo by the Vatican, he has become one of the key interlocutors of Syria’s new leadership.
5- Latakia, Assad’s former stronghold
The last leg of our journey took place on the famous M4 motorway.
Once a military objective for the regime and a source of tension between HTS and Turkey, the M4 was now open.
The mountainous Mediterranean landscape made a sharp contrast with the clear desolation between Idlib and Damascus.
Once past the front line and the positions of the Uighur jihadists from the Turkistan Islamic Party, the mountains of Latakia came into view. Several abandoned villages could be seen between the peaks and the coast of the “Alawite country”, as if suspended in time.

In the villages criss-crossed by winding lanes, many men stood idly on street corners.
A few revolutionary flags were visible in the streets and there was no sign of the fallen regime. But it was too early to tell whether the people were supportive or resigned.
Against all the odds, the Alawite minority (of which Assad is a member) has avoided a feared bloodbath following Assad’s ouster. For the time being, no violence and uprising has taken place in favour of the old regime.
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On a beach in Latakia, at the foot of an abandoned military post, our companion from the Aleppo countryside saw the sea for the first time and said: “Personally, my problem is not with the Alawites, but with some members of my Sunni family, and they are Sunni like me.”
“They plundered my father’s house and possessions when we were forced to flee Assad’s army. Repairing the social and family links torn apart by the war will be one of our biggest challenges,” he said, looking out at the horizon.
Then he adds in a melancholic tone: “For us, going to the sea was like a tradition, and now we’ll be able to come again and bring our children.”
This article has been translated from the original by Natasha Li.
Sources from: FRANCE24.COM