Post-Assad Syria
On December 8th, 2024 Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebels along with a collation of opposition forces overtook Damascus and overthrew Bashar Al-Assad after a brutal 13-year civil war. I arrived in Damascus just days after the Assad regime fell, and the images in this series capture the breaking news over the first month of a new Syria.
On assignment for The Guardian, we covered people celebrating freedom after over a half century dictatorship came to an abrupt end. We gained insight into the reality of Assad’s prisons, drug smuggling factories in Damascus, and witnessed the aftermath of his bombing campaigns in Aleppo. We spoke with people who survived torture, and joined rebel forces to eventually help overthrow Assad. I photographed HTS operations to integrate former Assad soldiers in reconciliation centers, and witnessed the funeral procession of Mazen Hamada, a well-known activist whose body was found in the notorious Sednaya prison. The images are an overview and insight into the first weeks of a post-Assad Syria.
In Umayyad Square, a large crowd celebrates on top and around a damaged tank days after the Assad regime has fallen in Damascus, Syria.
A portrait of Bashar Al-Assad is used as a doormat in a reconciliation centre run by HTS in Damascus, Syria. Article can be found here.
Residents walk through the Sha'aar neighborhood of East Aleppo, which has been subjected to airstrikes from the Assad regime, and destroyed large parts of the neighborhood. Article can be found here.
Ahrar Al Sham soldiers prepare to patrol the surrounding areas of the Palestine Branch Intelligence Center in Damascus. Article can be found here.
A large crowd forms while people carry the body of Mazen Hamada to be buried after his body was recently discovered in the Sednaya prison in Damascus, Syria after the fall of the Assad regime. Article can be found here.
A communal prison cell in the Palestine Branch where clothes and personal belongings remain from former prisoners in Damascus, Syria.
An HTS rebel demonstrates how a factory used to hide and smuggle captagon in various items including fake fruit in the outskirts of Damascus. Article can be found here.
Men pray at a mosque during the funeral of Mazen Hamada, an activist whose body was recently found in the Sednaya prison in Damascus, Syria after the fall of the Assad regime.
Thousands gather in Umayyad Square and set off fireworks in celebration of the fallen Assad regime. Article can be found here.