ALBAWABA- Unidentified shells fell near Mezzeh Military Airport in western Damascus late Monday, briefly interrupting nationwide celebrations marking the first anniversary of the Assad regime’s fall. State media reported no casualties or major damage.
According to SANA and local sources, three shells landed roughly 500 meters from the airport perimeter around 10 p.m. Security units quickly sealed off the area and launched a search for the attackers, whom officials blamed on “regime loyalist remnants” seeking to disturb Liberation Day commemorations.
The airport, once a symbol of Assad’s security apparatus and heavily damaged in Israeli strikes after the regime’s collapse in December 2024, remains under reconstruction for future civilian use.
The incident unfolded as cities across Syria held large-scale festivities celebrating last year’s rebel offensive that ended more than five decades of Assad family rule.
Tens of thousands gathered in Damascus’s Umayyad Square for fireworks, music, and speeches, including a dawn address by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa calling for national reconciliation and accountability.
Celebrations also spread through Aleppo, Hama, and Homs amid an ongoing wave of returns by refugees and internally displaced people. The transitional government has moved to dismantle former regime institutions, close notorious prisons, and secure international support for reconstruction.
