“No one slept” – how news of Bashar al-Assad’s fall spread

Residents in Damascus spoke of waiting impatiently for news of what was happening in the Syrian capital overnight.

After several hours of reports that the rebels were getting closer and closer, forces announced that Damascus had been “liberated” from the country's long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad in the early hours of Sunday.

Unverified videos circulating on social media show people chanting in the streets and welcoming rebel fighters, as well as prisoners released from the notorious Saydnaya prison.

Rania Qataf, who runs the “Human Damascus” page on Facebook, said: “No one slept in Syria last night… and no Syrians slept abroad.”

“The entire community had their phones waiting for the final news.

“How do I feel? Overwhelmed… We all feel like we've been underwater, literally, for thirteen years, and we've all taken a breath.

“And I know there are a lot of people who are much older than me who have been through a lot.”

She said she has had “mixed feelings” since the rebel groups' attack began, but she is no longer afraid.

She said that in the past she was “afraid to share an opinion, and I was too afraid to even put a like or a heart on someone from the opposition.”

Danny Makki, a journalist living in Damascus, described the scenes that took place Sunday morning in Umayyad Square, which houses key government agencies, including the Ministry of Defense and the Syrian Armed Forces.

He added: “People were shooting in the air, people were dancing, taking pictures and crying.”

“I spoke to militia soldiers. One of them said he had been preparing for this for a long time.

“He was not participating in the attack in Aleppo, but when he saw the rebels reaching the outskirts of Damascus, he took up arms.”

He added that some opposition fighters were using abandoned Syrian army vehicles.

“When I was driving around Damascus, I saw the Syrian army walking in civilian clothes on the road, not knowing where they were going.”

Despite the celebrations, he said that people's immediate concern was security and “making sure that there is no fighting within the ranks of the opposition.”

A Damascus resident, who requested to remain anonymous, told the BBC: “For the first time, there is a real feeling of freedom.”

“What we feel is actually similar to what we felt during the revolution when it started in 2011. This is a continuation of the dream that started in that year.”

He said that Syrians feel fear and anxiety about the future, but “today all the Syrian people will only celebrate.”

Further south, Yazan Al-Ammari runs a small phone shop in the city of Daraa, where civilian militias affiliated with Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham have already taken control.

He told the BBC that he is traveling with his friends to the Syrian capital today to celebrate.

“When we woke up and saw the news, at first we couldn't understand or fully understand it at all. People were so afraid of the rumours.

“But when we realized it was actually real, we got into our cars, and now we are on our way to Damascus to celebrate.”

“People felt like they were in a dream,” he said.

“You could see people crying. We were very afraid even today.”

Al-Ammari says this is the first time in many years that he has been able to speak freely.

“I was unable to leave my small town or move freely at all,” he said. “But now, I can go anywhere I want.”

But many people fear the unknown of the future.

A Syrian man in London told me about his fears for his family living in the coastal region of Syria.

“We are Eastern Orthodox Christians, and I fear that my family will be slaughtered,” said the man, who requested to remain anonymous.

“Everyone is in a panic. They are trying to find a way out of the country.”

His family is preparing to leave Syria, but the borders with Lebanon and Jordan are closed.

“The bags are packed, and we are just waiting to see whether any of the airports will open a flight to any neighboring country. Or whether the land borders will allow any private groups to leave Syria,” he said.

“It's a fact that people celebrate out of fear,” he said.

“They are celebrating because they fear they will be slaughtered if they do not show enthusiasm. On the one hand, we are all happy that the regime is gone, and on the other hand, we do not know the outcome of the elections.” “Ultimately, this insurgent group is an offshoot of Al Qaeda.”

The group that took control of large parts of the country, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, said Christians were safe.

He added: “We do not know how true this statement is.”

Additional reporting by Wietske Burema