STORY: :: A statue of former Syrian president Hafez al-Assad, Bashar al-Assad's father, is toppled in Homs
:: Released December 8, 2024
:: Homs, Syria
Social media footage showed a large crowd of people gathered around the statue of Hafez al-Assad, who is the father of President Bashar al-Assad, and subsequently bringing the statue down to huge cheers from the celebrating crowd.
Reuters was able to verify the location from road layout, streetlight, dome and minaret of a nearby mosque that matched with file and satellite imagery of the area. The date could not be independently verified.
The fall of Homs gave the insurgents control over Syria's strategic heartland and a key highway crossroads, severing the capital Damascus from the coastal region that is the stronghold of Assad's Alawite sect and where his Russian allies have a naval base and air base
On Sunday, rebel forces also announced the seizure of Damascus and the ouster of the Assad government.
