Syrians celebrate a month since Assad’s overthrow with revolutionary songs in Damascus

DAMASCUS (AP) — A packed concert hall in Damascus came alive this week with cheers as Wasfi Maasarani, a renowned singer and symbol of the Syrian uprising, performed in celebration of “Syria’s victory."

The concert Wednesday marked Maasarani’s return to Syria after 13 years of exile. While living in Los Angeles, Maasarani had continued to support Syria’s uprising through his music, touring the U.S. and Europe.

The concert organized by the Molham Volunteering Team, a humanitarian organization founded by Syrian students, also marked a month since a lightning insurgency toppled former President Bashar Assad.

Revolutionary songs like those by Maasarani and Abdelbasset Sarout — a Syrian singer and activist who died in 2019 — played a key role in rallying Syrians during the nearly 14-year uprising-turned civil war starting in 2011.

Many opponents of Assad's rule, like Maasarani, had fled the country and were unsure if they would ever be able to come back.

In the dimly lit concert hall, the crowd’s phone lights flickered like stars, swaying in unison with the music as the audience sang along, some wiping away tears. The crowd cheered and whistled and many waved the new Syrian flag, the revolutionary flag marked by three stars. A banner held up in the hall read, “It is Syria the Great, not Syria the Assad.”

One of Maasarani's best known songs is “Jabeenak ’Ali w Ma Bintal,” which he first sang in 2012, addressing the Free Syrian Army. It was a coalition of defected Syrian military personnel and civilian fighters formed in 2011 to oppose Assad during the civil war.

“You free soldier, the Syrian eminence appears in his eyes, he refused to fire at his people, he refused the shame of the traitor army, long live you free army, protect my people and the revolutionaries,” the lyrics read.

Another banner in the audience read, “It is the revolution of the people and the people never fail.”

Between performances, Raed Saleh, the head of the civil defense organization known as the White Helmets, addressed the crowd, saying, “With this victory, we should not forget the families who never found their children in the prisons and detention centers.”

Thousands were tortured or disappeared under Assad’s government. After the fall of Assad, the White Helmets helped in the search for the missing.

After the concert, Maasarani told The Associated Press, “It’s like a dream” to return to Syria and perform his revolutionary songs.

“We were always singing them outside of Syria, experiencing the happy and sad moments from afar,” he said, adding that his role was to capture the atrocities on the ground through song, ensuring “they would be remembered in history.” He reflected on his years in exile and recalled surviving two assassination attempts before leaving Syria.

“We have not seen this state without Assad since I was born,” said Alaa Maham, a concert attendee who recently returned from the United Arab Emirates. “I cannot describe my feelings, I hope our happiness lasts.”

The future of Syria is still unclear, as the Islamist former insurgent group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, now the de facto ruling party, begins to form a new government and rebuild the country's institutions.

Whatever comes next, Maham said, “We got rid of the oppression and corruption with the fall of Assad and his family’s rule."

AlJoud reported from Beirut.

Syrians sing and wave post-Assad flags during a concert by the recently returned "revolutionary" singer Wasfi Maasrani in Damascus Wednesday Jan. 8, 2025..(AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Wasfi Maasarani, a renowned singer and symbol of the Syrian uprising, talks with journalists after a concert in celebration of "Syria's victory" in Damascus Wednesday Jan. 8, 2025.(AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Wasfi Maasarani, a renowned singer and symbol of the Syrian uprising, performs in celebration of "Syria's victory" in Damascus Wednesday Jan. 8, 2025..(AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

FILE.- Syrians sing and wave post-Assad flags during a concert by the recently returned "revolutionary" singer Wasfi Maasrani in Damascus Wednesday Jan. 8, 2025..(AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed,File)

Syrians sing and wave post-Assad flags during a concert by the recently returned "revolutionary" singer Wasfi Maasrani in Damascus Wednesday Jan. 8, 2025..(AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

FILE.- Syrians sing and wave post-Assad flags during a concert by the recently returned "revolutionary" singer Wasfi Maasrani in Damascus Wednesday Jan. 8, 2025..(AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed,File)

FILE.- Syrians sing and wave post-Assad flags during a concert by the recently returned "revolutionary" singer Wasfi Maasrani in Damascus Wednesday Jan. 8, 2025..(AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed,File)

Syrians sing and hold a post-Assad flag during a concert by the recently returned "revolutionary" singer Wasfi Maasrani in Damascus late Wednesday Jan. 8, 2025..(AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A fan holds a flare during a concert by the recently returned "revolutionary" singer Wasfi Maasrani in Damascus late Wednesday Jan. 8, 2025..(AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Syrians sing during a concert by the recently returned "revolutionary" singer Wasfi Maasrani in Damascus late Wednesday Jan. 8, 2025..(AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Syrians wave post-Assad flags during a concert by the recently returned "revolutionary" singer Wasfi Maasrani in Damascus late Wednesday Jan. 8, 2025..(AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Syrians sing and wave post-Assad flags during a concert by the recently returned "revolutionary" singer Wasfi Maasrani in Damascus late Wednesday Jan. 8, 2025..(AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas confirmed Wednesday that Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City killed the new leader of its military wing less than two weeks after his predecessor was killed.

Hamas said in a statement that Mohammed Odeh died Tuesday along with his wife and two of his children in an airstrike. It came after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that the Israeli military had targeted and killed Odeh.

At least five people — including Odeh and his family members — were killed and 12 injured in Tuesday’s strike on a market in Gaza City, local hospitals said. The attack came on the eve of Eid al-Adha, a major Muslim holiday.

Thousands of people gathered Wednesday for the joint funeral of Odeh's family in Gaza City. Mourners covered the four bodies with green Hamas flags and marched from a mosque through the city, chanting and firing shots in the air. Some carried posters with Odeh's poster emblazoned with the words “one of the chiefs of staffs of the Qassam Brigades,” referring to Hamas' military wing.

Hamas condemned the strike, and said Odeh had been active with the group for more than three decades and was part of the first generation that helped establish the movement’s military and armed wing.

Katz called him “one of the architects” of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks that triggered over two years of war in Gaza and said it was the fourth time Israel has killed the head of Hamas’ military wing since that massacre. Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the previous head, was killed on May 16.

Katz said that Israel would continue to target Hamas leaders involved in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack. “We pledged that Hamas will not hold civilian or military rule,” he wrote on X.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is preparing for elections in the fall, also threatened that Israel will target everyone involved in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

The attack came as Muslims prepared for Eid al-Adha, normally a joyous time of family gatherings and large meals.

The holiday once again is subdued this year in Gaza, where the vast majority of people remain displaced and live in tents or temporary shelters after a devastating war. Around 90% of Gaza’s more than 2 million people have lost their homes, according to U.N. estimates, with most of them now sheltering in huge tent camps with rat infestations and pools of sewage. They are dependent on aid to survive.

Eid al-Adha, or “Feast of Sacrifice,” is an Islamic holiday celebrated by millions of Muslims across the globe. The four-day holiday, which begins during the Hajj pilgrimage, also is known for being a joyous occasion during which families gather, and children are given new clothes and gifts.

“This is not Eid ... we’re dead,” said Mahmoud Saqer, a displaced man from Khan Younis, who described people as being distressed by the ongoing human suffering and killings in the territory.

In Khan Younis and Gaza City, amid destroyed buildings, including a ruined mosque, people gathered for Eid prayers with few signs of celebration beyond a few clusters of balloons lining one street. Tahrir al-Khatib said the joy that accompanies Eid has been silenced in Gaza.

“There’s no Eid. My children were killed. Eid is only for the people who lost no one,” said Ayda Al-Banna, a displaced women from Gaza City, who prayed Eid prayers with her granddaughter.

A ceasefire reached between Israel and Hamas in October remains fragile. Israeli attacks have killed more than 880 Palestinians since the ceasefire took effect. Israel says its attacks are in response to violations by Hamas or threats to its soldiers, but Palestinian health officials say scores of civilians have been among the dead. Four Israeli soldiers have also been killed during this period in Gaza.

Israel launched its offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas attacks in October 2023, which killed some 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage.

Associated Press writer Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut and Fatma Khaled contributed from Cairo.

Palestinians mourn over the body of Mohammad Odeh, whom Israel says was a leader of Hamas Qassam Brigades, a day after he was killed in an Israeli airstrike, during his funeral in Gaza City, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians mourn over the body of Mohammad Odeh, whom Israel says was a leader of Hamas Qassam Brigades, a day after he was killed in an Israeli airstrike, during his funeral in Gaza City, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians take photos with Islamic Jihad militants as they gather for Eid al-Adha prayers in Gaza City Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Muslims worshipers gather for Eid al-Adha prayers in Gaza City Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Muslims worshipers offer Eid al-Adha prayers in Gaza City Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)