Thousands of people have attended a concert in Damascus to mark the end of the al-Assad family's rule and nearly 14 years of civil war.
It has been a month since Bashar al-Assad was overthrown, ending more than five decades of his family's rule in Syria and almost 14 years of civil war. Al-Assad fled to Russia on December 8 and has not been seen since.
On Wednesday night, thousands of people attended a concert in the capital Damascus to celebrate the uprising, a day some Syrians thought would never come.
Reports from Damascus, Al Jazeera ambassador James Bays said people gathered at a basketball court in the center of the city for a celebratory concert, marking a month of peace and quiet.
“There is real joy here a month after the fall of al-Assad,” he said.
“Outside the stadium you have a big picture of al-Assad but now you can only see his hair and forehead. Everything else was removed while his government, his army and all the weapons… were confiscated exactly a month ago,” he added.
Bays said that the proceeds from the concert will go to prominent non-governmental organizations, including the White Helmets – a civil protection group that worked during al-Assad's regime to save people from the rubble when it was bombed by the Syrian and Russian forces.
In Damascus, many Syrians were waiting for a new country. “I believe that the future will be better. There was no life under al-Assad. We were afraid of him and his army,” Nada Daye, a resident of Syria, told Al Jazeera.
Mamoun Nahlawi, who owns a bookstore, said the economy should now be open after years of sanctions by the United States and other Western countries. “Sanctions must be lifted. Otherwise people will not see positive results. People were humiliated during the time of al-Assad,” he told Al Jazeera.
Syria is one of the countries Many countries are allowed The world and the country's new leadership, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, are trying to change this. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) held its first meeting of the year on Wednesday, focusing on the issue.
Reporting from the UN headquarters in New York, Al Jazeera's Gabriel Elizondo said the UNSC wanted the sanctions lifted at the meeting.
Geir Pedersen, the UN special envoy for Syria, also told the UNSC meeting that “working on a political transition” will help ensure that Syria “quickly receives the much-needed financial aid, which requires the end of sanctions”.
Elizondo said that Tom Fletcher, the UN's humanitarian secretary-general, told the UNSC that sanctions should not stop humanitarian aid in the country.
In the coming weeks, a national conference to discuss Syria's transition to democracy will begin.
Meanwhile, US officials have also begun negotiations with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to lift economic sanctions on Damascus, as long as the new government cuts ties with Russia and Iran, and establishes political stability.