In Idlib feiern tausende den Jahrestag der Revolution

Wo sie es noch können, ohne dafür erschossen oder festgenommen zu werden, gedenken Syrer dem Beginn der Aufstände:

Thousands took to the streets in Syria's last major rebel bastion of Idlib Monday to mark 10 years since the nationwide anti-government protests that sparked the country's devastating civil war.

Crowds marched through the jihadist-dominated stronghold's main city, with some protesters waving the opposition's three-star flag or holding up images of those killed during the conflict.

"Freedom, freedom," they sang in Idlib city, just as the first protesters did in 2011 at rallies demanding an end to President Bashar al-Assad's rule. 

"The people want the fall of the regime," they shouted, echoing the slogan adopted by protesters elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa in the spring of 2011.

"We came to renew the pledge we made in 2011 when we decided to oust Assad," said one of those marching, Hana Dahneen.

"We had hoped to topple the regime from day one," she added. 

"But it unleashed all kinds of weapons against the innocent people to crush the revolution."

Syria's war has killed more than 388,000 people and displaced millions of Syrians inside the country and abroad.

But today, Assad is back in control of more than 60 percent of the country after a string of Russia-backed victories against rebels and jihadists.

A decade on, Assad looks set to win a new presidential election this summer in regime-held areas.