Demonstrations took place in cities and towns across northwestern Syria today, Friday, March 15, to commemorate the 13th anniversary of the start of the Syrian revolution.

Demonstrations were concentrated in city squares, including the al-Sabaa Bahrat square in central Idlib, and in cities and towns in the northern and eastern countryside of Aleppo, as well as in the cities of Ras al-Ain and Tal Abyad in northeastern Syria.

Protesters renewed their demands for the overthrow of the regime, freedom, change, the return of displaced persons, and the release of detainees, affirming the continuation of the Syrian revolution.

The demonstrations included revolutionary songs that Syrians have known over the course of 13 years, including “Jannah Ya Watana” (Our Country is Heaven), “Tayeb Iza Benrajaa” (So, If We Return), “Hurriya.. Hurriya” (Freedom.. Freedom), and “Al-Mout Wala Al-Mathalla” (Death Over Humiliation).

For days, public squares and streets have been prepared for the commemoration of the revolution’s anniversary, with flags and banners that carried slogans calling for the fall of the regime and demanding freedom and justice, as well as the release of detainees from the regime’s prison dungeons.

Demands for the overthrow of al-Jolani

Concurrent with the commemoration of the revolution, several cities and towns, including Binnish, Maarat Misrin, al-Atarib, Taftanaz, and around Idlib’s Clock roundabout, witnessed demonstrations demanding the overthrow of the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) which controls Idlib, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, rejecting monopolistic policies and dominance over power, as well in demonstrations in the northern and eastern Aleppo countryside.

A demonstration to commemorate the 13th anniversary of the start of the Syrian revolution in the city of Binnish, east of Idlib, demanding the overthrow of al-Jolani – March 15, 2024 (Enab Baladi)

Protesters demanded the resignation of al-Jolani and an end to injustice, authoritarianism, and the monopoly on decision-making, emphasizing there are no red lines in revolutions and that the sole red line is the will of the people. This comes especially after recent comments by al-Jolani stating that “there are demands that cannot be allowed at the moment, as they would affect people’s lives, and there are red lines that everyone must recognize. Under no circumstances will we allow anyone to harm the liberated areas,” according to him.

A demonstration to commemorate the 13th anniversary of the start of the Syrian revolution in the city of al-Atarib, west of Aleppo – March 15, 2024 (Al-Atarib Media Center)

For the past two weeks, various towns and cities in northern Syria have experienced similar demonstrations in a constant peaceful movement led by activists and civilians after the exposure of torture practices that detainees were subjected to in the prisons of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and the killing and disappearing of the fate (later revealed) of a military faction member by Tahrir al-Sham.

The demonstrations continued despite several measures by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and its political umbrella the Syrian Salvation Government (SSG) and the General Shura Council, including issuing a general amnesty for prisoners with conditions and exceptions, forming committees to listen to families, eliminating fees on buildings and exempting parts of them, establishing a supreme advisory council, and restructuring the general security service within the Ministry of Interior of the Salvation Government.

The Syrian revolution enters its 13th year weighted down with tens of thousands of detainees, millions of displaced and refugees, the killing of 231,278 civilians, including 15,334 due to torture, arbitrary detention (enforced disappearance) of 156,757 individuals, and about 14 million people displaced, by the conflicting parties and the ruling authorities in Syria from March 2011 until March 2024, according to the documentation by the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR).