Al-Julani speaks from Damascus’s historic Ummayad Mosque, tells Syrians that building a new country will be ‘hard work’.
Published On 8 Dec 2024
The leader of the main Syrian opposition armed group that seized Syria’s capital, Abu Mohammed al-Julani, has said the Syrian people are the “rightful owners” of the country after the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad, and declared a “new history” has been written for the entire Middle East.
Arriving in Damascus just hours after his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group led the capture of the city on Sunday, the leader gave a victory speech in the capital’s symbolic Umayyad Mosque.
As daylight broke, Syrians woke up to a dramatically changed country, after opposition forces swept into Damascus following a lightning offensive. They declared that they had toppled the government of “tyrant” Bashar al-Assad, who fled Syria in the early hours of Sunday and is in Russia, according to Russian media reports.
“The [al-Assad] regime has imprisoned thousands of its own civilians unjustly and without them committing any crimes,” al-Julani told a crowd gathered at the Umayyad Mosque.
“We [the Syrian people] are the rightful owners [of this country]. We have been fighting, and today we have been rewarded with this victory.”
“How many people were displaced across the world? How many people lived in tents? How many drowned in the seas?” asked al-Julani, who has begun to go by his real name, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
“A new history, my brothers, is being written in the entire region after this great victory,” he said before reminding the crowd that it would take hard work to build a new Syria that would be “a beacon for the Islamic nation”.
The leader called for prayers to give thanks for the triumph.
“God will not fail you,” al-Julani said. “This victory is for all Syrians; they were all part of this victory.”
Focus on unity
Al-Julani previously led the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda, al-Nusra Front, before distancing himself from the group.
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