Following the overthrow of the Ba’ath regime in Syria, hundreds of Syrians stood in prayer at the Umayyad Mosque in the capital, Damascus, for the first Taraweeh prayer.

Prior to Ramadan, maintenance work was carried out at the Umayyad Mosque, and after the congregation performed the first Taraweeh prayer, prayers were offered. Ragad Faysal, a faculty member at the Pharmacy Department of Damascus University, told an AA correspondent that they were very happy to experience their first Ramadan without the Ba’ath regime. Faysal, who visited the mosque for the first time after years, said, “Our home is near here. (Before) We couldn’t enter the mosque out of fear every time we passed by. Today, after the mosque became ours, we decided to come. Thank God, we have been freed from oppression.” Faysal evaluated, “The mosque did not belong to us before. When we passed by, there were people inside who did not resemble us.”

“OUR FIRST RAMADAN WHERE WE FEEL THAT EVERY INCH OF LAND IS OURS” East Ghouta resident Baha Kurdoş stated, “Our first Ramadan without (Bashar) Assad. Our first Ramadan where we feel that the country belongs to us, where every inch of home and land is ours. There can be no better feeling than this.” Kurdoş noted that the joy of Ramadan was felt among the people, saying, “Everyone is happy and joyful. We are even happier. We wish for people’s situations to always be good.” Discussing the Ramadan periods during the Ba’ath regime, Kurdoş said, “Ramadans were really bad back then. Thank God, those days are over. They were gloomy and unhappy times. We suffered in need and poverty.”

“HAPPY, PROUD, THE MOSQUE IS OURS” Doctor Rava Akaşe described their “indescribable” feelings as they entered the first Ramadan month without the toppled Assad regime. Akaşe said, “We used to pray Taraweeh at home in the past. But now we are happy, proud, the mosque is ours. Damascus has completely changed.”