The school year in Syria’s capital Damascus resumed after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, as schoolchildren eagerly headed to the classrooms carrying new flags and eager to continue their studies. 

The national anthem of the former Syrian regime will not be sung this year until a new one is drafted and any material that praises the Assad family will be removed from the education system.

Rebels led by the Islamist Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) late last month launched a blistering offensive against the Syrian army, seizing the northern cities of Aleppo, Hama, and Homs and culminating their victory by capturing the capital Damascus as Assad fled the country, ending over five decades of Baathist rule.