On the esplanade of the Umayyad Mosque, in the heart of Old Damascus, no one could believe their eyes. Syrian revolutionary flags fluttered above heads and clamors covered the first sermon delivered in a Syria rid of Bashar al-Assad. "I've been waiting 13 years for this moment," said Mohammed Abu Moussab. Around him, thousands of faithful became one.

On March 15, 2011, in the old city's Al-Hamidiyeh Souq, on the outskirts of the historic mosque, a handful of Damascenes were already chanting slogans against the authorities before being violently dispersed. Over the months, the days of prayer, dubbed the "Fridays of Anger," were the milestones of the revolt, which was bloodily repressed by the shabihas, the regime's henchmen, and the security forces. Five days after the fall of Assad, this Friday, December 13, will be remembered as Victory Friday, the last Friday of the Syrian revolution.

"We were living as if in a three-storey prison: between the regime's infamous jails in the basement, the permanent repression in the streets and the controlling society that intruded right into our homes, where the walls had ears. Our chains have been lifted," said a jubilant Abu Moussab. The office supplies salesman stopped protesting in 2013 when the regime was bombing several districts of the capital with chemical weapons. "We walled ourselves up in silence. We were no longer masters of our lives. Our country no longer belonged to us," he said, moved to tears, adding that he could not have uttered those words 10 days earlier.

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