Syrian rebels burn the grave of Bashar al-Assad’s father
Syrian rebel fighters have destroyed the tomb of ousted President Bashar al-Assad in the family hometown of his father, the late President Hafez al-Assad.
Video verified by the BBC showed armed men moving around a burning mausoleum in Kardaha, northwest of the coastal Latakia region.
Rebels led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched a massive offensive across Syria, ousting the Assad dynasty’s 54-year rule. Bashar al-Assad has fled to Russia where he and his family have been granted asylum.
Statues and posters of Hafez and his son have been removed across the country to the cheers of Syrians celebrating the end of their rule.
In 2011, Bashar al-Assad brutally crushed a peaceful pro-democracy uprising, sparking a devastating civil war that killed more than half a million people and forced 12 million others to flee their homes.
Hafez al-Assad ruled Syria brutally from 1971 until his death in 2000, when power was handed over to his son.
He was born and raised in a family of Alawites, a branch of Shia Islam and a religious minority in Syria, whose main center of population is in Latakia province near the Mediterranean coast near the border with Turkey.
Many Alawites – who make up about 10% of the country’s population – were staunch supporters of Assad during his long stay in power.
Some of them now fear that victorious rebels may target them.
On Monday, a rebel delegation with members of HTS and another Sunni Muslim group, the Free Syrian Army, met with Qardaha elders and received their support, according to Reuters news agency.
The rebel delegation signed a document, which Reuters reported, that emphasized Syria’s religious and cultural diversity.
HTS and allied rebel groups captured the Syrian capital Damascus on Sunday after years of civil war.
HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who has now started using his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, is a former jihadist who broke with al-Qaeda in 2016. It recently pledged tolerance for different religious groups and communities.
The UN envoy for Syria has said rebels must implement their “good messages” on the ground.
Meanwhile, the US Secretary of State said Washington would recognize and fully support the future Syrian government as long as it emerges from a credible, inclusive process that respects minorities.
HTS has appointed a transitional government led by Mohammed al-Bashir, the former head of the rebel administration in the northwest, until March 2025.
Bashir chaired a meeting in Damascus on Tuesday Members of his new government and members of Assad’s former cabinet attended to discuss the transfer of departments and institutions.
