Reef Dimashq marks revolution anniversary in Darayya (Photos)

DARAYYA — Reef Dimashq’s central celebration marking the 14th anniversary of the Syrian revolution was held in Darayya city on Tuesday, with many residents attending from cities, towns and villages with a long history of opposition to the Assad regime.

The thought to hold an event for Reef Dimashq emerged from a casual conversation between two Darayya residents and developed into a province-wide celebration. “The countryside hasn’t organized any celebration before,” journalist Tamam Abu Khair, one of the event’s coordinators, told Syria Direct. 

The idea “was presented to the governor of Reef Dimashq, who agreed provided that [it did not cause] regional sensitivities” between cities and towns in the Damascus countryside, he added. 

“Darayya is only the host [city], but the event is for Reef Dimashq,” Abu al-Khair said. The province endured to some of the most horrific violations during the years of the revolution, facing siege, bombardment and forced displacement. 

Women attend the event organized by Darayya city in Reef Dimashq to mark the 14th anniversary of the Syrian revolution, 25/3/2025 (Abd Almajed Alkarh/Syria Direct)

Many activists who attended the event were previously displaced to northwestern Syria before returning to their cities and towns after the Assad regime fell on December 8, 2024, activist Omar al-Shami, who is from the Reef Dimashq city of Qatana, said. 

Al-Shami was happy to see the celebration in Darayya, especially given the city’s revolutionary symbolism. The city south of Damascus was previously referred to as the “barrel bomb capital,” hit by 309 barrel bombs over the course of nine days in June 2016 alone. 

Darayya was a center of the nonviolent movement against the Assad regime at the start of the Syrian revolution in 2011. The regime responded with violence, ultimately destroying around 80 percent of its residential buildings, as Amer Ahmad Khashini, a member of the city’s civil administration, previously told Syria Direct. 

Darayya was also the site of one of the bloodiest massacres of the revolution, when the Assad regime killed more than 700 people over the course of six days in August 2012. 

Residents of Reef Dimashq gather in Darayya to mark the 14th anniversary of the Syrian revolution, 25/3/2025 (Abd Almajed Alkarh/Syria Direct)

This piece was originally published in Arabic and translated into English by Mateo Nelson.