• 'Everywhere I look, I see the revolution flag ... Someone who hasn’t lived through the revolution cannot fully understand what we feel today,' says Syrian activist

ALEPPO / ISTANBUL

Those who lived through the Assad regime’s last days recall scenes they say will remain etched in memory.

Syrian journalist Nabiha Taha, who tracked opposition preparations as forces advanced toward Damascus, told Anadolu that the regime’s collapse opened moments of profound significance for Syrians.

Taha described watching detainees emerge from regime prisons after years of captivity, an image she said symbolized the dawn of a new chapter.

“I witnessed a man regain his freedom after eight years in prison. Seeing women, men, and children walk out of the regime’s prisons was unforgettable,” she told Anadolu.

Witnesses to the 14-year Syrian civil war and the military campaign that toppled the 61-year Baath regime say the Assad government’s atrocities left deep scars that remain impossible to forget, even as the country enters a new chapter following the Dec. 8, 2024, revolution.

The Assad regime’s attacks that began in 2011 and continued for nearly 13 years claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Syrians, leaving massive destruction across the country.

More than half of Syria’s population was displaced during the conflict, with others forced to flee abroad.

The nationwide “Operation to Deter the Enemy,” which began in Idlib and spread across the country, culminated in the collapse of the Assad regime and the end of Baath rule after six decades.

While regime assaults left lasting wounds on Syrian society, the Dec. 8 revolution marked the beginning of a new era.

Survivors of both the regime’s brutality and the revolution’s turning points shared their experiences with Anadolu.

Civilians, health workers, all targeted

Syrian health worker Nebil Sheikh Omar said the country’s liberation meant “the return of hope and justice.”

Recalling his years working in a hospital at the height of the conflict, he said: “Civilians, fighters—even we health workers—were all being targeted. Our hospitals were bombed. Despite everything, returning here today is a great victory for us.”

He said the opposition’s early gains in Aleppo ignited a wave of nationwide hope.
Stepping once again into a liberated Aleppo moved him deeply:

“When I stood in front of the hospital where I once worked, I couldn’t step forward or backward. It was very emotional. I saw in my mind the faces of our doctors, nurses, and staff who were martyred. The feeling was both victory and profound sorrow. I wish they could be here with us today.”

Seeing the hospital destroyed years later was devastating, Omar added.

“After eight years, we stood again in front of this building to remember the moment Russian warplanes bombed it. We returned to the streets and neighborhoods. For those of us in the health sector, this carries immense meaning.”

'We believe Aleppo will be revived step by step'

Activist Asid Pasha, one of the organizers of the first peaceful demonstrations in Aleppo in 2011, said the revolution flag now rising again over the city represents “the sacrifice of thousands of martyrs.”

Born and raised in Aleppo and a graduate of economics and business, Pasha said he was detained after organizing the city’s first protest on March 18, 2011, at Hudhayfa ibn al-Yaman Mosque.

He said thousands poured into the streets demanding freedom, and protests soon spread across all districts.

“The square where we stand today witnessed Aleppo’s largest demonstration. With Arab League observers present that day, the wall of fear completely collapsed,” he said.

Marking the first anniversary of liberation, Pasha said some old fears still resurface.

“Everywhere I look, I see the revolution flag. People walk freely. Someone who hasn’t lived through the revolution cannot fully understand what we feel today,” he said.

He added that the region has undergone rapid changes since Dec. 8. “We believe Aleppo will be revived step by step. Trade routes—including the Silk Road—will pass through here again. Aleppo will regain its former vibrancy, economy, and trade, God willing.”

An artist’s message of peace amid the regime’s attempts to ‘radicalize’ the revolution

Syrian painter Khalifa Khidr said he created his well-known mural of the sacred figure of Mary during the early years of the war in Aleppo as a counter-message to the regime’s attempts to portray the revolution as radical.

A university student at the time, Khidr described those days:

“I was about 19 or 20. Online, the revolution was being labeled an ‘Islamic movement.’ The Assad regime also tried to depict it as radical. But we—Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen, Circassians—students from all segments of Syrian society—were joining peaceful protests.”

He said he developed a visual language to challenge the regime’s attempt to impose a single identity on the population.

“I painted the sacred figure of Mary on a destroyed wall to send a message of peace to the world,” he said, describing the work as an body_abstract reflection of the war’s emotional atmosphere.

The red tones in the mural symbolized the bloodshed in Syria, he explained. “Some colors were intentionally faded. The red represented how she was immersed in Syria’s blood, extending a helping hand to Syrians.”

Khidr said the Virgin Mary is regarded as a shared spiritual figure across all faiths and denominations in Syria.