A year after Bashar Assad fled, Syria struggles to heal

HOMS, Syria (AP) — A year ago, Mohammad Marwan found himself stumbling, barefoot and dazed, out of Syria’s notorious Saydnaya prison on the outskirts of Damascus as rebel forces pushing toward the capital threw open its doors to release the prisoners.

Arrested in 2018 for fleeing compulsory military service, the father of three had cycled through four other lockups before landing in Saydnaya, a sprawling complex just north of Damascus that became synonymous with some of the worst atrocities committed under the rule of now-ousted President Bashar Assad.

He recalled guards waiting to welcome new prisoners with a gauntlet of beatings and electric shocks. “They said, ‘You have no rights here, and we’re not calling an ambulance unless we have a dead body,’” Marwan said.

His Dec. 8, 2024, homecoming to a house full of relatives and friends in his village in Homs province was joyful.

But in the year since then, he has struggled to overcome the physical and psychological effects of his six-year imprisonment. He suffered from chest pain and difficulty breathing that turned out to be the result of tuberculosis. He was beset by crippling anxiety and difficulty sleeping.

He’s now undergoing treatment for tuberculosis and attending therapy sessions at a center in Homs focused on rehabilitating former prisoners, and Marwan said his physical and mental situations have gradually improved.

“We were in something like a state of death” in Saydnaya, he said. “Now we’ve come back to life.”

On Monday, thousands of Syrians took to the streets to celebrate the anniversary of Assad's fall.

Like Marwan, the country is struggling to heal a year after the Assad dynasty’s repressive 50-year reign came to an end following 14 years of civil war that left an estimated half a million people dead, millions more displaced, and the country battered and divided.

Assad's downfall came as a shock, even to the insurgents who unseated him. In late November 2024, groups in the country’s northwest — led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist rebel group whose then-leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, is now the country’s interim president — launched an offensive on the city of Aleppo, aiming to take it back from Assad’s forces.

They were startled when the Syrian army collapsed with little resistance, first in Aleppo, then the key cities of Hama and Homs, leaving the road to Damascus open. Meanwhile, insurgent groups in the country’s south mobilized to make their own push toward the capital.

The rebels took Damascus on Dec. 8 while Assad was whisked away by Russian forces and remains in exile in Moscow. But Russia, a longtime Assad ally, did not intervene militarily to defend him and has since established ties with the country's new rulers and maintained its bases on the Syrian coast.

Hassan Abdul Ghani, spokesperson for Syrian Ministry of Defense, said HTS and its allies had launched a major organizational overhaul after Assad’s forces regained control of a number of formerly rebel-controlled areas in 2019 and 2020.

The rebel offensive in November 2024 was not initially aimed at seizing Damascus but was meant to preempt an expected major offensive by Assad’s forces in opposition-held Idlib intending to “finish the Idlib file,” Abdul Ghani said.

Launching an attack on Aleppo “was a military solution to expand the radius of the battle and thus safeguard the liberated interior areas," he said.

In timing the attack, the insurgents also took advantage of the fact that Russia was distracted by its war in Ukraine and that the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, another Assad ally, was licking its wounds after a damaging war with Israel.

When the Syrian army’s defenses collapsed, the rebels pressed on, “taking advantage of every golden opportunity,” Abdul Ghani said.

Since his sudden ascent to power, al-Sharaa has launched a diplomatic charm offensive, building ties with Western and Arab countries that shunned Assad and that once considered al-Sharaa a terrorist.

In November, he became the first Syrian president since the country’s independence in 1946 to visit Washington.

In a speech in Damascus on Monday, al-Sharaa described his vision of Syria as “a strong country that belongs to its ancient past, looks forward to a promising future and is restoring its natural position in its Arab, regional and international environment" and will join “the ranks of the most advanced nations.”

But the diplomatic successes have been offset by outbreaks of sectarian violence in which hundreds of civilians from the Alawite and Druze minorities were killed by pro-government Sunni fighters. Local Druze groups have now set up their own de facto government and military in the southern Sweida province.

There are ongoing tensions between the new government in Damascus and Kurdish-led forces controlling the country’s northeast, despite an agreement inked in March that was supposed to lead to a merger of their forces.

Israel is wary of Syria's new Islamist-led government even though al-Sharaa has said he wants no conflict with the country. Israel has seized a formerly U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria and launched regular airstrikes and incursions since Assad’s fall. Negotiations for a security agreement have stalled.

Remnants of the civil war are everywhere. The Mines Advisory Group reported Monday that at least 590 people have been killed by landmines in Syria since Assad’s fall, including 167 children, putting the country on track to record the world’s highest landmine casualty rate in 2025.

Meanwhile, the economy has remained sluggish, despite the lifting of most Western sanctions. While Gulf countries have promised to invest in reconstruction projects, little has materialized on the ground. The World Bank estimates that rebuilding the country’s war-damaged areas will cost $216 billion.

The rebuilding that has taken place has largely been individual owners paying to fix their own damaged houses and businesses.

On the outskirts of Damascus, the once-vibrant Yarmouk Palestinian camp today largely resembles a moonscape. Taken over by a series of militant groups then bombarded by government planes, the camp was all but abandoned after 2018.

Since Assad’s fall, a steady stream of former residents have come back.

The most damaged areas remain largely deserted but on the main street leading into the camp, bit by bit, blasted-out walls have been replaced in the buildings that remain structurally sound. Shops have reopened and families have come back to their apartments. But any larger reconstruction initiative appears to still be far off.

“It’s been a year since the regime fell. I would hope they could remove the old destroyed houses and build towers,” said Maher al-Homsi, who is fixing his damaged home to move back, although the area doesn't even have a water connection.

His neighbor, Etab al-Hawari, was willing to cut the new authorities some slack.

“They inherited an empty country — the banks are empty, the infrastructure was robbed, the homes were robbed," she said.

Bassam Dimashqi, a dentist from Damascus, said of the country after Assad’s fall, “Of course it’s better, there’s freedom of some sort.”

But he remains anxious about the precarious security situation and its economic impacts.

“The job of the state is to impose security, and once you impose security, everything else will come," he said. "The security situation is what encourages investors to come and do projects.”

The U.N refugee agency reports that more than 1 million refugees and nearly 2 million internally displaced Syrians have returned to their homes since Assad’s fall. But without jobs and reconstruction, some will leave again.

Among them is Marwan, the former prisoner, who says the post-Assad situation in Syria is “far better” than before. But he is struggling economically.

Sometimes he picks up labor that pays only 50,000 or 60,000 Syrian pounds daily, the equivalent of about $5.

Once he finishes his tuberculosis treatment, he said, he plans to leave to Lebanon in search of better-paid work.

Sewell reported from Beirut. Associated Press journalist Omar Albam in Damascus contributed to this report.

Syrian citizens gather at Umayyad square, during celebrations marking the first anniversary of the ousting of former President Bashar Assad in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Fireworks and light beams illuminate the sky as people fill Clock Square in central Homs, western Syria, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, to mark the first anniversary of the ousting of the Bashar Assad regime. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

Army helicopters fly overhead during a parade by the new Syrian army marking the first anniversary of the ousting of the Bashar Assad regime in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A Syrian man waves his country flag during celebrations marking the first anniversary of the ousting of former President Bashar Assad in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

FILE - A man breaks the lock of a cell in the infamous Saydnaya military prison, just north of Damascus, Syria, Monday, Dec. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)

Former detainee Mohammad Marwan walks down a street on his way to the Homs Recovery Center in the village of Tell Dahab in the Homs countryside, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A girl sits on a machine gun as visitors tour the "Syrian Revolution Military Exhibition," which opened last week ahead of the first anniversary of the ousting of the Bashar Assad regime in Damascus, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A boy checks out military equipment as visitors tour the "Syrian Revolution Military Exhibition," which opened last week ahead of the first anniversary of the ousting of the Bashar Assad regime in Damascus, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A Syrian man silhouetted by a digital billboard showing the date of the ousting of the Bashar Assad regime during celebrations marking the first anniversary, in Damascus , Syria, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. The Arabic words read: "A history retold and a bond renewed." (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Wanted portraits of former Syrian president Bashar Assad are displayed in the window of a coffeeshop, in Damascus Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, as Syrians celebrate marking the first anniversary of the ousting of the Bashar Assad regime. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Syrian men wearing anonymous masks flash victory signs, as they stand on top of their car with its front window covered by an Islamic flag, during celebrations marking the first anniversary of the ousting of the Bashar Assad regime in Damascus, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Coco Gauff wants those people posing questions to her about the teenagers breaking through at the Australian Open to remember one thing: She’s 21.

The 18-year-old Iva Jovic will be playing No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park. That's after Sabalenka, a two-time champion in Australia, beat 19-year-old Vicky Mboko on Sunday in the fourth round.

“The way people ask the questions make it seem like I’m way older than,” the teenagers, Gauff said. “I have been around longer, obviously, but yeah, they’re always, like, ‘Do you have any advice to give them?’

“I’m, like, you guys, these are, like, my peers. We are the same. We are hanging out,” she added for effect, smiling. “We’re in the same age group.”

Gauff has been on tour for more than five years — she made a stunning Grand Slam debut as a qualifier at Wimbledon against five-time champion Venus Williams when she was 15 — but she's still among the younger pros. She won her first major title at 19.

Seeded No. 3 and a two-time major winner, Gauff reached the quarterfinals in Australia for the third straight year with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 win Sunday over No. 19 Karolina Muchova.

She's gone on to win the title each of the previous four times she's beaten Muchova, including the 2023 U.S. Open, her maiden Grand Slam title. When she was still a teenager.

Three teenagers played in fourth-round matches Sunday, but only Jovic advanced — 6-0, 6-1 over Yulia Putintseva.

Mboko troubled Sabalenka in the second set but lost 6-1, 7-6 (1). In the last match of Day 8, the 18-year-old, eighth-seeded Mirra Andreeva lost 6-2, 6-4 to 31-year-old Elina Svitolina, who reached the Grand Slam quarterfinals for the 14th time. That will be against Gauff, who is into the last 8 for the 10th time.

Gauff said she found it difficult when she was adjusting from juniors to the professional ranks, because some players don't talk or even say hi.

So, she makes a point of greeting the newbies, making them feel welcome.

“Just saying hi or saying good luck," Gauff said. "And then you start to talk and then you become friends, and it’s cool.”

In the case of Jovic, who is playing just her sixth Grand Slam tournament and making her first run past the second round, Gauff has a sister-like affinity.

“Yeah, she’s the age of my little brother,” Gauff said. "I do feel older than them. That’s for sure. I don’t feel the exact same, but I don’t feel as old as people make it seem.

“I have talked to Iva a couple of times. I have never talked to her about advice or anything — I feel like she has such a good head on her shoulders. I don’t think she needs that.”

Gauff had few peers when she was starting out, saying it was “very lonely for me, honestly.”

And while she's friends with the likes of Madison Keys, Jessica Pegula and Amanda Anisimova, sometimes she doesn't “connect” on everything, so she still likes to hang out with a younger crowd sometimes.

“We’re interested in the same things and stuff like that, but it’s always funny when people ask me the question," about the up-and-coming teens, she said. "I usually don’t have anything to say, because I’m still figuring out, just like they are.

“So it’s great to have, like, more people of my age range doing better. I feel like maybe last two years on tour have been some of my happiest, even though maybe the tennis has been up and down, just because you see more friendly faces in the locker room.”

Jovic is likely to be around for a while. She said last year she wanted to take on No. 1-ranked Sabalenka because she wanted to test her level. After her best run at a major to date, she gets the chance.

“Obviously, the Slams are where you want to do well," she said. “Being here in a Slam just gives me belief that I can be at the, you know, highest level of tennis. And, hopefully, be consistently having these results.”

Iva Jovic of the U.S. plays a forehand return to Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan during their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Iva Jovic of the U.S. celebrates after defeating Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan in their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Coco Gauff of the U.S. celebrates after defeating Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic in their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

Coco Gauff of the U.S. signs autographs after defeating Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic in their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

Coco Gauff of the U.S. plays a backhand return to Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic during their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)