By Bulent Usta and Tuvan Gumrukcu
LATAKIA, Syria (Reuters) – Thousands gathered in northwestern Syria on Friday for weekly prayers and a rally where clerics in the port city of Latakia, a former stronghold of ousted President Bashar al-Assad, urged national unity under the country’s new government.
“Freedom forever despite Assad,” some in the crowd at the square outside Al-Ajjan mosque chanted, along with “God is greatest” and “One, one, one, Syrian people are one”.
Syrian rebels toppled Assad and his family’s brutal five-decade rule on Sunday and formed a new administration led by former al Qaeda offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham(HTS). The group has promised a tolerant and inclusive new order.
After the first Friday prayers since Assad’s overthrow, religious leaders addressed a crowd of thousands outside the mosque, calling for people to give up their weapons.
Some spectators waved Syria’s new flag while the country’s new anthem, a rebel song adopted for the purpose, played over speakers.
Khaled Kamal, a Sunni imam who spoke at the gathering, told Reuters after the rally that it was a “joy like no other” to return to Syria after fleeing abroad during the war. He called on all Syrians abroad to return.
“To be honest, this moment is indescribable,” Kamal said.
“We welcome any president for Syria, whether it’s a Sunni, an Alawite or Christian, as long as the people choose him,” he added, referring to Assad’s Alawite ethnic and religious group.
The future in Syria, where the Sunni Islamist HTS has emerged as the dominant force, holds uncertainty for many, especially its minorities.
Shi’ite Muslims, whose Alawite offshoot is centred in Latakia, are thought to be about a tenth of the population, which stood at 23 million before the country’s civil war began in 2013.
Muhammed Reda Hatem Abdullah, an influential Alawite preacher who took part in the rally, said he did not discriminate against any group and wanted to see all faiths stand united.
“The unity of Syria is an ambition that we will pass on to our children and the future generations. They will know that the sanctity of the homeland is part of the sanctity of humanity,” he said in an interview.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu, Bulent Usta and Umit Bektas; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
