"At around midnight on December 8, 2024, the 20-year-old Yamen was on his phone as news poured in that the regime might be on its last legs. A rebel operation from the north of Syria had overtaken Aleppo, Hama and Homs, and word was that they were on their way to Syria's capital city. Yamen told a few friends and joined them in the streets of Damascus."
"His phone died while he was out on the streets, so the news did not come in by phone, but the sound of gunfire echoed through the night sky. There was a lot of gunfire from jubilant people, he said on Monday, a day before the first anniversary, seated in a hotel courtyard. He looked out over the courtyard and played with a ring on his left hand as he spoke."
Mohamad Yamen fled Jobar in 2013 with his family after the regime flattened the suburb, then moved to Abbasiyyin and continued his studies while dreaming of Spain. On December 8, 2024, at age 20, he and friends poured into Damascus streets as news spread that rebels had overtaken Aleppo, Hama and Homs and were advancing on the capital. His house stood between two police stations whose officers had regularly harassed people; those officers were absent and defected uniforms lay on the ground. Gunfire and jubilant celebration followed as fighters entered the city and the Umayyad Mosque, prompting Yamen to think of Palestine and Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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