Shadowing the newsreader
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New Year celebrations in Damascus, Syria, held deeper meaning this year after the events of 8th December 2024, when rebel forces descended on the Syrian capital.
This led to President Assad and his family fleeing the country, ending over 50 years of a brutal political system.
General Hafez al-Assad seized power in 1970 and was followed by his son Bashar al-Assad in 2000.
With the changes wrought by the Arab Spring 2011, a complex civil war took hold and more than six million Syrians have been forced to flee.
Over the same period, 580,000 were killed, including 306,000 non-combattants.
Yamamah al-Ubaid is a Syrian activist.
Hayat Tahir al-Shan (HTS) is the dominant group of the rebel alliance that brought down the Assad regime, and is headed by Ahmed al-Sharaa.
HTS began as a breakaway group of al-Qaeda, and is listed as a terrorist organisation in a number of countries.
Now, al-Sharaa is calling for HTS to be taken off the list, denying that he intends to turn Syria into a version of Afghanistan.
Although not all Syrians believe that HTS has separated from its extremist past, others such as student Nour Haloum, hope that 2025 will see their basic rights restored at last.
The actions of the nation's new leaders will be examined in the coming months, by Syrians inside and also outside their country.
