Damascus uncorked: Syria throws a new year’s party for the ages

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. DAMASCUS, Syria—The people of Syria said good riddance in the past month to the dictatorship that ruled for half a century. They have no idea what is coming next.

So when the clock struck midnight, Damascus let rip. People danced into the morning in thumping clubs and others launched fireworks from city squares, where motorcyclists did wheelies while wearing Syria’s revolutionary flag as capes. Masked members of the new security forces carrying AK-47s wished people health and good tidings.

Couples danced and kissed, friends hugged, DJs played revolutionary songs, and partygoers chanted anti-Assad slogans at the top of their lungs. “Syria lives, the regime has fallen!" elated young Syrians standing on chairs chanted in a packed bar near Damascus’ Old City. They wore shiny, cone-shaped party hats; held revolutionary flags and cursed the old regime’s deposed ruler, Bashar al-Assad: “A black year for you, Bashar.

A sweet year for the revolutionaries!" As they celebrate the fall of the Assad regime, many are anxiously watching the establishment of a new government with uncertain commitment to civil liberties and an unknown level of tolerance for fun. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Sunni Islamist group and al Qaeda offshoot that seized control of much of the country last month, says it will respect Syria’s diversity but has said questions about social issues will be addressed later. As the revelers celebrated the New Year, war-hardened, big-bearded officials with the rebel group that toppled the regime met one another in hotel lobbies decorated for Christmas.