Syrian rebels burn coffin of Assad's father in brutal dictator's home town
11 December 2024, 17:07
Syrian rebels have set the tomb of Bashar al-Assad's father ablaze as they continue to dismantle his brutal dictatorship.
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Rebels, who overthrew the brutal regime just days ago, were pictured around the burning coffin after storming the Assad family's hometown of Qardaha.
In footage shared online, cheers and celebrations could be heard as the coffin burnt, with one person seen raising his middle finger to it.
It comes after rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham swept to power in Syria, toppling the Assad government.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) came from the north, taking several cities including Aleppo and Homs before winning control of the capital Damascus over the weekend.
Longtime dictator Bashar Al-Assad fled to Russia, who, along with Iran, had backed him in the years-long Syrian civil war.
His father, Hafez al-Assad, first seized power with a coup in 1971 and cemented his family’s dominance over a brutal 50-year dictatorship.
He died in 2000 and his body was returned to Qardaha and placed within a mausoleum.
Longtime dictator Bashar Al-Assad fled to Russia, who, along with Iran, had backed him in the years-long Syrian civil war.
His father, Hafez al-Assad, first seized power with a coup in 1971 and cemented his family’s dominance over a brutal 50-year dictatorship.
He died in 2000 and his body was returned to Qardaha and placed within a mausoleum.
Assad is reviled in much of the West and has been accused of numerous human rights abuses and running a police state.
But HTS, who have been fighting alongside several other groups, are a proscribed Islamist group in the UK, and have also been accused of their own abuses.
HTS was set up in 2011 near the start of the Syrian civil war by Al-Qaeda under a different name - Jabhat al-Nusra. Al-Qaeda is the group founded by Osama bin Laden, and was most notoriously behind the 9/11 attacks.
An Islamic State leader was also involved in the creation of the group.
HTS has had control of the northern Syrian province of Idlib since 2017 under the so-called Syrian Salvation Government.
