On December 8th, 2024 Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebels along with a collation of opposition forces overtook Damascus and overthrew Bashar Al-Assad after a brutal 13-year civil war. I arrived in Damascus just days after the Assad regime fell, and the images in this series capture the breaking news over the first months of a new Syria. On assignment for The Guardian, we covered people celebrating freedom after over a half century dictatorship came to an abrupt end. We gained insight into the reality of Assad’s prisons, drug smuggling factories in Damascus, and witnessed the aftermath of his bombing campaigns in Aleppo. I photographed HTS operations to integrate former Assad soldiers in reconciliation centers, and witnessed the funeral procession of Mazen Hamada, a well-known activist whose body was found in the notorious Sednaya prison. The images are an overview and insight into the first weeks of a post-Assad Syria.