Thousands celebrate in central Damascus during first Friday prayers since Assad’s fall

DAMASCUS (AP): Thousands of Syrians gathered Friday in Damascus’ historic main mosque for the first Muslim Friday prayers since the ouster of President Bashar Assad, while giant crowds celebrated in the capital’s largest square.

The gatherings were a major symbolic moment for the dramatic change of power in Syria, nearly a week after insurgents swept into Damascus, ousting the Assad-led state that had ruled the country for a half century with an iron grip. It came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with allies around the region looking to shape the transition, calling for an “inclusive and non-sectarian” interim government.

After talks in Jordan and Turkey — which backs some of the Syrian insurgent factions — Blinken arrived in Iraq on a previously unannounced stop. So far, US officials have not talked of direct meetings with Syria’s new rulers.

The main insurgent force, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has been working to establish security and start a political transition after seizing Damascus early Sunday. The group has tried to reassure a public both stunned by Assad’s fall and concerned over extremist jihadis among the rebels. The insurgents’ leadership says it has broken with its extremist past, though HTS is still labeled a terrorist group by the United States and European countries.

HTS’s leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, appeared in a video message Friday congratulating “the great Syrian people for the victory of the blessed revolution.”

“I invite them to head to the squares to show their happiness without shooting bullets and scaring people,” he said. “And then after we will work to build this country and as I said in the beginning, we will be victorious by the help of God.”

Huge crowds, including some insurgents, packed Damascus’ historic Umayyad Mosque in the capital’s old city for Friday prayers, many waving the rebel opposition flag — with its three red stars — which has swiftly replaced the Assad-era flag with with its two green stars.

According to Arab TV stations, the Friday sermon was delivered by Mohammed al-Bashir, the interim prime minister installed by HTS this week.

The scene resonated on multiple levels. The mosque, one of the world’s oldest dating back some 1,200 years, is a beloved symbol of Syria, and sermons there like all mosque sermons across Syria had been tightly controlled under Assad’s rule. Also, in the early days of the anti-government uprising in 2011, protesters would often emerge from Friday prayers to march in rallies against Assad — before he launched a brutal crackdown that turned the uprising into a long and bloody civil war.

“I didn’t step foot in Umayyad Mosque since 2011,” because of the tight security controls around it, said one worshipper, Ibrahim al-Araby. “Since 11 or 12 years, I haven’t been this happy.”

Another worshipper, Khair Taha, said there was “fear and trepidation for what’s to come — but there is also a lot of hope that now we have a say and we can try to build.”