DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Thousands of Syrians poured into the streets and public squares on Saturday to mark the 14th anniversary of the start of the country’s civil war for the first time since Bashar Assad was swept from power.
Crowds waved Syrian flags and chanted in celebration of the rebel victory that ended the Assad family's five-decade rule in rallies in the capital, Damascus, the country’s largest city of Aleppo in the north, and Idlib, where the rebels launched their offensive in November.
A poster reading “15/3/2025, same date but we are now victorious” was carried by a man at Damascus’ Umayyad Square as helicopter gunships dropped flowers on those gathered.
Until recently, the helicopters were used by forces loyal to Assad to drop barrel bombs on areas held by his opponents. By releasing flowers, the country’s new authorities want to send a message.
“Today, helicopters are gifting you hope instead of pain, peace instead of fear,” read a paper in Arabic tied to a flower that was dropped over Umayyad Square.
Yaman al-Ali said he came to celebrate the victory of “the revolution” that she has backed since 2011. “My feeling, of course, is incredibly, incredibly, incredibly great. First, because we have overthrown Bashar Assad. Of course, we are demanding his execution, not just his overthrow.”
“Today, by the grace of God, we have come to express our joy in victory,” said Lamyaa al-Doueish. “This is the first year, after 14 years, that God has blessed us with victory.”
Syria’s conflict started as one of the popular uprisings against Arab dictators known as the 2011 Arab Spring, before Assad crushed the largely peaceful protests and a civil war erupted. Half a million people have been killed and more than 5 million left the country as refugees.
In November, insurgent groups led by the Islamist Islamic Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, began a ground offensive that within days captured the country’s four largest cities starting with Aleppo in the north, then Hama and Homs in central Syria. On Dec. 8, the insurgents marched into Damascus, marking the end of the Assad family's 54-year rule that was considered one of the most brutal in the region. Assad fled to Russia, his main ally.
The country’s new authorities led by interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa have faced serious obstacles. Just days before Saturday's anniversary, clashes between fighters loyal to Assad and forces of the country’s new rulers sparked the worst violence since the civil war, leaving about 1,000 dead, most of them members of Assad's Alawite minority community.
Earlier this week, the interim government signed a deal with the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast, and days later al-Sharaa signed a temporary constitution that leaves Syria under Islamist rule while promising to protect the rights of all Syrians for five years during a transitional phase.
After Assad’s fall, the vast majority of Syrians still live in poverty and Syrian officials and regional countries have been calling on Western countries to lift sanctions imposed more than a decade ago.
The United States and Europe have been hesitant to lift the sanctions before there is a clear political transition that is democratic and inclusive of Syria’s minorities and civil society. At the same time, Syria desperately needs money to rebuild after years of war.
An explosion on Saturday at a hardware store in a four-story building in Syria’s coastal city of Latakia killed two people and wounding seven others, the Syrian Civil Defense said, adding that search operations are ongoing for those missing. The cause of the blast was not immediately clear.
Mroue reported from Beirut.
A Syrian army helicopter throws flowers and confetti on a group of demonstrators marking the 14th anniversary of the start of the uprising against Bashar Assad's regime in March 2011, in Umayyad square, Damascus, Syria, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Syria's interim president Ahmad Al-Sharaa, center, prepares to sign a temporary constitution for the country in Damascus, Syria, Thursday March 13, 2025. At left, is Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shiban. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
The White House says President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have begun a highly anticipated call as the U.S. administration looks to persuade the Russian leader to sign-off on a 30-day ceasefire proposal as a possible pathway to end the war.
The White House is optimistic that peace is within reach even as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy remains skeptical that Putin is doing much beyond paying lip service to Trump.
Here's the latest:
In an extraordinary display of conflict between the executive and judiciary branches, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts rejected calls for impeaching federal judges shortly after Trump demanded the removal of the judge who ruled against his deportation plans.
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts said in a rare statement. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
In a Tuesday morning social media post, Trump described U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg as an unelected “troublemaker and agitator.” Boasberg recently issued an order blocking deportation flights under wartime authorities from an 18th century law that Trump invoked to carry out his plans.
▶ Read more about Trump and Chief Justice John Roberts
The Senate Finance Committee Chairman will hold the hearing to consider Frank Bisignano to lead the Social Security Administration on March 25.
The hearing comes as the agency institutes across-the-board cuts, which have prompted questions about the possible effects on benefits for tens of millions of recipients.
Among the changes at the agency are layoffs for more than 10% of the workforce and the closure of dozens of offices throughout the country. It’s all part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce.
The order applies to more than 100 teacher preparation and training programs the administration canceled in February.
The judge in Maryland issued the preliminary injunction in a lawsuit filed by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education and the National Center for Teacher Residencies.
The administration cut $600 million in grants to teacher training programs, saying they ran afoul of its policies against diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Grantees rejected the notion that their work was tied to DEI. Many programs used the money to hire teachers, to pay for college scholarships, and to address retention issues leading to staff shortages.
The White House says President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have begun a highly anticipated call as the U.S. administration looks to persuade the Russian leader to sign-off on a 30-day ceasefire proposal as a possible pathway to end the war.
Tuesday’s call comes after Ukrainian officials last week agreed to the American proposal during talks in Saudi Arabia led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, however, remains skeptical that Putin is ready for peace as Russian forces continue to pound Ukraine.
Trump, before the call, said he expected to discuss with Putin land and power plants that have been seized during the grinding three-year war.
▶ Read more about Trump’s call with Putin
The Trump administration’s “great plan” to jumpstart a resurgence of manufacturing in the United States is simple, the vice president said.
“We’re going to cut your taxes, we’re going to slash regulations, we’re going to reduce the cost of energy so that you can build, build, build,” he said at a summit on American dynamism in Washington.
Vance said innovation will be a key component and there’s too much fear that artificial intelligence will replace jobs. He recalled early concerns that ATMs would replace bank tellers.
“People in our country illegally can self-deport the easy way, or they can get deported the hard way. And that’s not pleasant,” Trump said in a video posted to the White House account on the X social media platform.
He said his administration is repurposing a Customs and Border Protection app first launched under the Biden administration into one people can use to voluntarily leave the country and avoid being forcibly removed as he executes on his promise of mass deportations.
Trump said anyone leaving the country on their own could potentially return legally at a future date.
But if they don’t, he said “they will be found, they will be deported and they will never be admitted again to the United States ever, ever again.”
On Tuesday, the president called for the impeachment of a federal judge who has tried to stop deportations to El Salvador.
“This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The Republican president’s latest post aligns him more with allies like Elon Musk, who has made similar demands.
On Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said “I have not heard the president talk about impeaching judges.”
Shortly after taking office, Trump directed his national intelligence director and attorney general to come up with a plan to release the sought-after records related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The killing has spawned countless conspiracy theories.
Trump said Monday that some 80,000 files will be released, but it wasn’t clear how many of them are among the millions of JFK records that have already been made public.
He said his instructions to his staff were, “don’t redact.”
Trump has hung a copy of the Declaration of Independence in the Oval Office, according to images he shared on social media.
The Republican president’s official account on X showed two images Monday of a framed copy of the historical document hanging on the wall not far from the president’s desk.
It was not immediately clear where the copy came from and when it was installed.
“The Nationals Archives delivered the Declaration of Independence to the White House at the President’s request. It is displayed in the Oval Office where it will be carefully protected and preserved,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
The original version of the Declaration of Independence is very faded and displayed in the Archives’ building. On the version hanging in the White House, according to the images posted, the words are clear and legible.
The White House and National Archives did not respond to messages inquiring what version of the document was in the White House.
▶ Read more about Trump’s new Oval Office decor
Vice President JD Vance’s speech will focus on support for American industry and workers, according to his office.
The summit is taking place at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington. It used to be a Trump hotel when Trump was president the first time.
According to the White House press office, Trump plans to sign executive orders in the Oval Office at 3:30 p.m. ET.
The White House has also confirmed Trump and Russian President Vladamir Putin will hold a call to discuss a ceasefire in Ukraine on Tuesday, which is expected to happen between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. ET.
The Trump administration fired most of the board of the U.S. Institute of Peace and sent its new leader into the Washington headquarters of the independent organization on Monday, in its latest effort targeting agencies tied to foreign assistance work.
The remaining three members of the group’s board — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Defense University President Peter Garvin — fired President and CEO George Moose on Friday, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press.
An executive order that President Donald Trump signed last month targeted the organization, which was created by Congress over 40 years ago, and others for reductions.
Current USIP employees said staffers from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency entered the building despite protests that the institute is not part of the executive branch. USIP called the police, whose vehicles were outside the building Monday evening.
▶ Read more about the gutting of USIP
District Judge James E. Boasberg was incredulous over the administration’s contentions that his verbal directions did not count, that only his written order needed to be followed, that it couldn’t apply to flights that had left the U.S. and that the administration could not answer his questions about the deportations due to national security issues.
“That’s one heck of a stretch, I think,” Boasberg replied, noting that the administration knew as the planes were departing that he was about to decide whether to briefly halt deportations being made under a rarely used 18th century law invoked by Trump about an hour earlier.
Deputy Associate Attorney General Abhishek Kambli contended that only Boasberg’s short written order, issued about 45 minutes after he made the verbal demand, counted. It did not contain any demands to reverse planes, and Kambli added that it was too late to redirect two planes that had left the U.S. by that time.
▶ Read more about the Trump deportation flights
The leaders are scheduled to speak between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. ET, a spokesperson for Putin said.
The talks are part of Trump’s effort to push the two sides into ending the three-year conflict by getting Putin to agree to a U.S. plan for a 30-day ceasefire that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accepted last week.
Zelenskyy said late Monday in his nightly video address that Putin is the one who is dragging out the war.
Trump said Washington and Moscow have begun discussing “dividing up certain assets” between Ukraine and Russia as part of the conflict-ending deal.
President Donald Trump talks with reporters as he visits the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, Monday, March 17, 2025. (Pool via AP)
President Donald Trump attends a board meeting at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, Monday, March 17, 2025. (Pool via AP)
FILE - President Donald Trump, right, shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, June 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
