BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 28. Demonstrators across multiple Syrian cities condemned on Friday the deadly Israeli attacks on the south of the country during rallies to mark one year since the start of the offensive that toppled former ruler Bashar al-Assad, TurkicWorld reports via Asharq Al-Awsat.
Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa had called on Thursday for Syrians to "go down to the squares" to commemorate the moment his coalition of opposition fighters launched an offensive from their Idlib stronghold in northwest Syria that culminated in the toppling of Assad just 11 days later.
Mass rallies took place in Damascus and other major Syrian cities including Aleppo, Homs, Iblib, Tartus and Latakia, with participants chanting in support of Sharaa.
AFP correspondents in the capital said participants condemned the Israeli attack on Beit Jin, southern Syria, which killed 13 people, holding banners that read "Beit Jin makes us proud" and "stop Israeli attacks".
"After we were victorious against Bashar al-Assad, we will be victorious against Israel," 29-year-old teacher Batul Imad al-Din told AFP in Damascus.
"We are here in response to those who say that nothing has changed in Syria. We are happy and feel free," she added.
Technician Bassel Azizieh said he was "here in support of my state, the state that represents me and the entire Syrian people without exception".
Since coming to power, Sharaa has been staunch in his insistence on a centralized, unitary Syria while facing calls for federalism for the mutli-ethnic, multi-confessional country.
Azizieh said they "also came down to pay our respects to the martyrs of the Israeli aggression" on Beit Jin.
The rallies came days after protests in Latakia and several Alawite-majority areas denouncing repeated abuses targeting the minority community, which Assad hails from.
Sharaa said on Thursday that protesters had "legitimate demands", emphasizing the importance of "national unity" and reiterating his rejection of federalism.
Mohammed Shukri, 28, said after participating in the Damascus rally that he was "here for the unity of Syria and to say that Syria is one for everyone".
