On Sunday, people across Syria will celebrate the 15th anniversary of the uprising that, in late 2024, put an end to President Bashar al-Assad’s rule. Then, in December 2024, a lightning offensive by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group removed al-Assad, who fled to Russia. Syrians told Al Jazeera on the uprising’s anniversary that they are proud to have deposed the Assad dynasty that ruled the country for more than 50 years. “Al-Sharaa has achieved a level of international legitimacy no other Syrian president has reached before him,” Omer Ozkizilcik, a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Syria Project, wrote in a December 2025 report. That included asserting control over the coast, where fighting in March 2025 led to mass violence, including from members of Syrian security forces, and attempts to extend government control to Suwayda, in the south, where violence spiralled last summer. “And following the violence last March that saw more than 1,400 Alawites [a Shia minority] murdered, communal relations appear to be slowly improving on the ground – though minority groups still have deep concerns over their status in the new Sunni dominated country and face ongoing security threats,” he wrote.