Syrian rebels set tomb of Assad’s father of fire in family’s hometown

Fighters were seen holding up the flag of the revolution as they stood atop the charred gravesite of Syria's late president Hafez al-Assad.

Syrian rebels have torched the tomb of ousted president Bashar al-Assad’s father days after the stunning fall of the family’s 50 year dictatorship.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said rebels had set fire to the mausoleum of Hafez al-Assad, in the family’s hometown of Qardaha, in the Latakia region.

Footage shows parts of the mausoleum ablaze and damaged, with the tomb of Hafez destroyed.

Rebel fighters were seen holding up the three starred flag of the revolution as they stood atop the charred gravesite.

Rebel fighters stand next to the burning gravesite of Syria's late president Hafez al-Assad at his mausoleum. Picture: Aaref Watad/AFP

The father and predecessor of Syria's ousted president Bashar al-Assad died in 2000. Picture: Aaref Watad/AFP

The site also houses the tombs of other Assad family members, including Bashar’s brother Bassel, who was being groomed to inherit power before he was killed in a road accident in 1994.

Hafez died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 2000 at the age of 69 after a 30-year reign.

It comes after a lightning offensive by Islamist-led rebels seized key cities before reaching Syria’s capital of Damascus and forcing Assad to flee on Sunday, ending more than 50 years of his family’s rule.

Syrians across the country and around the world erupted in celebration, after enduring a stifling era during which anyone suspected of dissent could be thrown into jail or killed.

Rebel fighters stand with the flag of the revolution on the burnt gravesite of Syria's late president Hafez al-Assad on December 11, 2024. Picture: Aaref Watad/AFP

Syrians visiting the gravesite of Syria's late leader Hafez al-Assad on November 16, 2011. Picture: AFP/ HO/ SANA

Syrian’s raise a new flag

Since the fall of president Bashar al-Assad, the independence-era flag adopted by activists and rebels during the 2011 revolt has replaced the official flag on streets, institutions and homes in Syria.

The red, green, black and white flag introduced under the Assad family’s ruling Baath party remains Syria’s official symbol.

But it has now been torn down in towns and cities around the country to mark the end of an era, with residents and armed men raising the three-starred flag of the revolution in its place.

=A man waves a Syrian opposition flag at the Citadel of Aleppo in northern Syria on December 11, 2024. Picture: Ozan Kose/AFP

The flag, first adopted by the protesters who took to the streets in 2011 to call for freedom, is green, white and black.

The green represents the early years of Muslim rule, white is for the Umayyad dynasty and black is for the Abbasids, who ruled over their empire from around 750 AD until the mid-13th century.

The three red stars across the middle represent the districts of Damascus, Aleppo and Deir Ezzor.

New Syria PM says he will ‘guarantee’ all religious groups’ rights

Meanwhile’s Syria’s new prime minister said the Islamist-led alliance that ousted the president will guarantee minority rights, in an interview published on Wednesday.

“Precisely because we are Islamic, we will guarantee the rights of all people and all sects in Syria,” Mohammad al-Bashir, whom the rebels appointed as the transitional head of government, told Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

Syria’s war has killed more than 500,000 people and forced half the population to flee their homes, with six million of them seeking refuge abroad.

In his interview, Bashir called on Syrians abroad to return to their homeland.

“Syria is now a free country that has earned its pride and dignity. Come back,” he said.

The main international airport in Damascus, closed since the rebels overran the capital, will reopen “in the next few days”, its director Anis Fallouh told AFP.

Syria's new transitional prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir said the Islamist-led alliance that ousted the president will guarantee minority rights. Picture: Stringer/SANA/AFP

Bashir, whose appointment was announced on Tuesday, is tasked with heading the multiethnic, multi-confessional country until March 1.

Bashir said Syria’s new rulers would be willing to work with anyone so long as they did not defend Assad.

The United Nations’ envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, urged an inclusive process, telling AFP that his “biggest concern is that the transition will create new contradictions in the manner that could lead to new civil strife”.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the world body was “totally committed to supporting a smooth transition of power”.

Assad was propped up by Russia, where he reportedly fled, as well as Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group.

On Wednesday, the Kremlin said it wanted to see stabilisation in Syria “soon”, as it criticised Israel over hundreds of air strikes it conducted on its neighbour over the past few days.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said that Israeli air strikes on Wednesday had targeted sites belonging to Assad’s military in the coastal Latakia and Tartus provinces.

“Israeli warplanes continue to destroy what remains of Syria’s military arsenal for the fourth consecutive day since the fall of the former regime,” the Britain-based monitor said.