“Jubilant crowds gathered in cities across Syria for the first Friday Prayers since rebels toppled Bashar al-Assad, including at the historic Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, where civilians and fighters worshiped side by side and joyful chants erupted over the collapse of a long authoritarian dynasty,” the New York Times reports.
“The largely celebratory mood in Damascus, the capital, belied the monumental challenges facing Syria’s new leaders as they try to bring order to a country wracked by sectarian divisions, the bloody legacy of the Assad era and the competing interests of an array of armed groups that fought in a 13-year civil war that human rights groups estimate killed hundreds of thousands of people.”
