The grave of the father of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been set alight by rebel fighters after they stormed his mausoleum today.
Footage shows fighters standing next to the burning grave of Hafez al-Assad in the family’s ancestral village of Qardaha in the western province of Latakia.
The burning tomb was dragged out of the mausoleum and abandoned by the armed rebels, as other images show.
Hafez al-Assad, father and predecessor of the ousted president, died in 2000.
He took power in 1970 and was the architect of modern Syria, creating a system of divide and rule to maintain his power.
The burning of Hafez’s grave comes after his son fled Syria following a lightning offensive led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies.
Syrians across the country and around the world have erupted in celebration, after enduring five decades of clan rule, in which anyone suspected of dissent was jailed or killed.
Many have traveled to the infamous Sednaya prison near Damascus, nicknamed the “Human Slaughterhouse” in the hope of finding long-lost relatives.
Rebel fighters stand next to the burning tomb of late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad at his mausoleum.
Rebels stormed the mausoleum today and set fire to Hafez al-Assad’s tomb.
A rebel fighter walks past the burning coffin of late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad in front of his mausoleum.
The prison was the epicenter of this systematic terror where a large number of detainees were subjected to all types of inhuman treatment and executed.
Dark images and footage released this week showed how horrified rescuers pulled dozens upon dozens of body bags containing decomposing corpses from deep within the facility.
But there are dozens more facilities across the country where victims of the Assad regime were left to suffer and die.
The country’s new prime minister said the Islamist-led alliance will “guarantee” the rights of all religious groups and called on the millions who fled the war to return home.
“Precisely because we are Islamic, we will guarantee the rights of all people and all sects in Syria,” said Mohammad al-Bashir, whom the rebels named head of the transitional government.
When asked if Syria’s new constitution would be Islamic, he told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that “we will clarify all these details during the constituent process.”
Bashir, whose appointment was announced on Tuesday, is tasked with leading the multi-ethnic, multi-sectarian country until March 1.
Syrian President Hafez al-Assad with his wife Anisa Makhlouf and daughter Bushra on June 4, 1974.
Rebel fighters pose for a photo in front of the mausoleum of late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad in the family’s ancestral village of Qardaha.
In the image: Syrian rebels burn and destroy the mausoleum of Hafez al-Assad.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (right), his brother Maher (left) and his brother-in-law, Major General Assef Shawka, during the funeral of Hafez al-Assad.
While Assad had faced protests and armed rebellion for more than a decade, it was a lightning offensive launched on November 27 that ultimately forced him from power.
The rebels launched their offensive from northwestern Syria on the same day a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon came into effect.
In that war, which killed thousands of people in Lebanon, Israel inflicted staggering losses among the ranks of Hezbollah.
Today, Moscow confirmed that it had smuggled Assad out of Syria and into Russia.
Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, said Assad was transported to Moscow “as safely as possible” following the sudden and dramatic collapse of his dictatorship over the weekend.
talking to NBC NewsMr Ryabkov said: “He is safe and it shows that Russia is acting as necessary in such an extraordinary situation.”
He said he “had no idea what was going on with him at the moment” and added that “it would be very wrong of me to give any more details about what happened and how it was resolved.”
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad photographed with Vladimir Putin in 2018
Abu Mohammed al-Golani speaks at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus on Sunday, December 8
Russia was Assad’s key ally during Syria’s long civil war and helped maintain his family’s brutal dynasty that had ruled Syria for more than 50 years.
Human rights groups have previously accused Assad of war crimes, including using chemical weapons against civilians, but Ryabkov ruled out handing the leader over to stand trial.
“Russia is not a party to the convention that created the International Criminal Court,” he said.