What just happened in Syria? Unpacking the historic week that toppled Assad

“I must be dreaming — this is the greatest dream of my life and I don’t want to wake up,” Mohammed Al-Owir, 63, told NBC News in Damascus’ Umayyad Square, which has become a scene of flag-flying, car horns and celebratory gunfire.

Imprisoned for nine years by Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad, he described living “in constant fear, never allowed to lift our heads” under the family’s 50-year dynasty.

His half-smile hinting hope, pain and trepidation, Al-Owir surveyed the scene with his granddaughter, Lina, a 20-month-old with hair in buns and pink sparkly sneakers.

“I don’t want to leave this square ever,” he said. “I want to stay here with the Syrian people and watch them dance and sing, look at their happiness, their laughter and their joy.”