Syrians mark a month since al-Assad’s overthrow with concert in capital

It’s been a month since Bashar al-Assad was overthrown, ending more than five decades of his family’s rule in Syria and almost 14 years of civil war. Al-Assad vanished to Russia on December 8 and hasn’t been seen since.

Some Syrians believed the uprising would never occur at a concert in the capital Damascus on Wednesday night.

According to Al Jazeera’s diplomatic editor James Bays, who was reporting from Damascus, people gathered for the celebratory concert, which marked a month of relative calm and stability.

He claimed that “everyone here feels like they are exuberant exactly one month after al-Assad’s rule was overthrown.”

“Al-Assad used to have a large poster outside of this stadium, but now you can only see his forehead and hair. The remainder of it has been completely destroyed, he continued, noting that his regime, his army, and the entire apparatus have already been destroyed.

The White Helmets, a civil defense force that fought alongside the al-Assad regime to rescue civilians from the rubble during the Russian and Syrian air attacks, will receive the proceeds from the concert, according to Bays.

In Damascus, many Syrians were also looking ahead to a new country. “I hope the future will be better. There was no life under al-Assad. We were scared of him and his army”, Nada Daye, a Syrian resident, told Al Jazeera.

Owner of a bookshop Mamoun Nahlawi said the United States and other Western nations should now have lifted their sanctions. “The sanctions must be lifted. Otherwise people won’t see a positive effect. People were humiliated during al-Assad”, he told Al Jazeera.

Syria is among the most sanctioned countries in the world and the country’s new administration, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, is trying to change that. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) held its first meeting of the year on Wednesday, focusing on the matter.

Gabriel Elizondo, a journalist for Al Jazeera, reported from the UN headquarters in New York that the UNSC had pushed for the UNSC to lift sanctions.

Working on an inclusive political transition, according to UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen, will help ensure that Syria “quickly receives the economic support it desperately needs, which also necessitates a smooth end to sanctions,” according to Geir Pedersen.

Elizondo noted that Tom Fletcher, the UN humanitarian affairs under-secretary-general, also told the UNSC that sanctions should not impede humanitarian support to the country.

A national conference to discuss Syria’s transition to democracy is scheduled to take place in the upcoming weeks.

In the event that the new government offers political stability and reduces ties with Russia and Iran, US officials have also started discussions with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates about easing financial restrictions on Damascus.