Thousands gathered for the first Friday prayers since Bashar al-Assad fled on Sunday, now named ‘freedom day’
In the Umayyad mosque in the heart of the old city of Damascus, one of the holiest religious sites in the Islamic world, thousands of people gathered for the first Friday prayers since Assad fled the country on Sunday, which has been named the country’s “freedom day.
“We must be united in our fight for human rights and helping each other make Syria a light among nations again,” he said, voice cracking with emotion. “It was 14 years of hell and this week is the best of that whole time,” said Hanan Hadi, 55, referring to the regime’s crackdown on peaceful Arab spring protests and the bloody civil war that followed.
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