Several demonstrations were held in areas under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Raqqa city (in northeastern Syria) and Deir Ezzor city (in eastern Syria) to celebrate Liberation Day and to protest the SDF’s decision to ban celebratory gatherings on security grounds.
Enab Baladi’s correspondent in Raqqa reported that SDF forces arrested one person in the city for carrying a sign during the protest that read, “It is our right to rejoice, SDF.”
Protesters rejected the SDF decision to prevent celebrations, insisting that they, as Syrians, have the right to take part in the anniversary of the fall of the Assad regime, according to the correspondent.
In Deir Ezzor, Enab Baladi’s correspondent said that Abu Hamam village (in the western countryside of Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria) witnessed a demonstration to mark Liberation Day, despite the SDF ban on gatherings and events.
The correspondent confirmed that none of the demonstrators were arrested and that the SDF did not intervene with any security measures.
Today, Monday 8 December, marks the first anniversary of Syria’s liberation and the fall of the Assad regime. The Syrian government has declared public institutions closed on 7 and 8 December for the occasion.
Public squares in various Syrian provinces are witnessing gatherings of Syrians today in celebration of Liberation Day.
Ban on celebrations
The Executive Council of the Autonomous Administration in northeastern Syria decided to ban all mass or social gatherings and events across its areas on 7 and 8 December.
It also banned firing live ammunition and fireworks, according to a statement published by the Administration on its Facebook page on 6 December.
The Council attributed the decision to the current security situation, namely the increased activity of “terrorist cells” seeking to sow discord, undermine social cohesion, and carry out “terrorist” operations by exploiting the anniversary of the fall of the “former regime,” as well as to its concern for citizens’ safety, the protection of security and civil peace, and the requirements of the public interest.
The statement extended congratulations to the people of northeastern Syria on this occasion, as well as to the people of Syria as a whole, expressing the hope that “Syria will prosper year after year, move into a phase of prosperity that includes all its peoples, enjoy democracy, pluralism, and partnership, and be a place where citizens live free and dignified within a united, democratic, decentralized Syria.”
The Autonomous Administration also decided to close all public institutions under its authority today, Monday 8 December, on the occasion of the “fall of the Baathist regime,” as it described it.
In another statement issued on Sunday 7 December, the Autonomous Administration strongly criticized steps taken by the transitional government over the past year.
According to the Administration, the national dialogue, the formation of the government, and the recent parliamentary elections did not reflect the essence of Syrians’ demands or their lived reality.
It linked this dialogue, government formation, and elections to the massacres that took place in the coastal region and in Suwayda, and to the dangerous social fragmentation these events produced, which encouraged hate speech, as it put it.
Abdi congratulates Syrians on liberation
The commander in chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi, congratulated Syrians on the first anniversary of the fall of the “former regime,” hours after celebrations were banned in areas under his forces’ control.
He considered that Syria entered a new phase with the regime’s fall, describing the moment as a turning point that ended decades of authoritarianism and division.
Abdi said in a post on X on 7 December that the new phase in Syria’s history must be built on justice in a way that serves the interests of Syrians.
He expressed hope that current political developments will help strengthen stability and build institutions that are more representative.
The SDF commander in chief reiterated his commitment to the 10 March agreement, describing it as “a foundation for building a democratic, decentralized state,” as he put it.
The battle to topple Assad
On 27 November, one year had passed since “Deterring Aggression,” the battle that lasted 11 days and toppled a regime that had ruled Syria for more than 50 years with an iron fist, and a revolution that lasted 14 years during which hundreds of thousands were killed by bombardment or disappeared in prisons, alongside millions of people displaced inside Syria and abroad.
It was 11 days on the calendar, but the battle was the product of years of preparation and planning, as those who carried out the operations later revealed, and was preceded by even longer years of hit and run battles between various opposition factions on the one hand, and the Syrian regime and the states and militias that crossed borders on sectarian and ideological grounds on the other.
The speed of the operations took the world by surprise, including the planners and executors themselves, who had expected them to last for months at least. Yet towns, cities, and provinces fell in succession like “domino pieces,” in a scene that shocked close observers and local residents before distant onlookers.
The battle brought together the efforts of many factions that had previously fought one another and shed each other’s blood in internal factional infighting that claimed the lives of at least hundreds of their fighters.
The first shot in the “Deterring Aggression” battle was fired on the western Aleppo countryside front, from the towns of Anjara and Qebtan al Jabal and the surrounding towns and villages. The battle then pushed forward toward Damascus and ended with the fall of the Syrian regime on 8 December 2024.
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