Jubilation as thousands mark one year since Assad's ouster

Tens of thousands took to the streets across Syria on Monday to celebrate a year since the toppling of longtime ruler Bashar Al Assad, with President Ahmed Al Sharaa urging people to unite to rebuild the country.

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Sharaa's Islamist-led alliance launched a lightning offensive in late November last year and took Damascus on Dec.8 after nearly 14 years of war, ending more than five decades of Assad family rule.

Jubilant crowds thronged the streets of the capital, many people waving Syrian flags, AFP correspondents said, after mosques in the Old City began the day broadcasting celebratory prayers at dawn.

"What happened over the past year seems like a miracle," said lyad Burghol, 44, a doctor, noting major developments including President Donald Trump's embrace of Sharaa, a former jihadist who once had a US bounty on his head.

After years of war and economic crisis, people need basics like electricity "but the most important thing to me is civil peace," Burghol told AFP.

Sharaa has made progress abroad like restoring Syria's international standing and winning sanctions relief, but he faces major challenges at home including gaining people's trust, guaranteeing security, rebuilding institutions and keeping his fractured country united.