MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Coming up, South Korea's president faces a treason investigation after trying to place his country under martial law.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
But first, Syrians woke up this morning to their first day in decades without the Assad regime ruling their lives.
MARTIN: The Assad family came to power in 1970, when Richard Nixon was still in the early days of his first term as U.S. president. On Sunday, Russia confirmed that President Bashar al-Assad had fled to Moscow, while in Damascus, the capital, the rebels who seized control were led by an Islamist group still designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization.
FADEL: Here to tell us what Syrians are making of this stunning new reality without Assad's brutal grip on power, we're joined from Beirut by NPR's Ruth Sherlock. Good morning, Ruth.
RUTH SHERLOCK, BYLINE: Good morning.
FADEL: So, Ruth, an 11-day rebel push and Assad is gone, after over a decade of civil war. It's hard to even believe. What are we hearing from Syrians on their first day without the Assad regime in power?
SHERLOCK: People are dazed and incredulous. You know, there's celebrations across the country. Like you said, you know, Leila, this regime was in power for over 50 years, and then there was 13 years of devastating civil war.
FADEL: Right.
SHERLOCK: The Assad family seemed to have won. Then it collapsed like a house of cards. The regime collapsed in the space of just over a week. So there's now major celebrations across the country but also among the millions of Syrian refugees, many of whom now want to return. NPR producer in Lebanon, Jawad Rizkallah, went to Arsal. That's a town on the border with Syria where families have lived in tents for years. He asked a refugee there, Mahmoud Sattof, to describe what was happening.
MAHMOUD SATTOF: Now we are hearing the celebrations of the people. They are screaming that now they are free.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAR HORNS)
SATTOF: Their whole country is free. You can hear the happiness in their voices.
(SOUNDBITE OF POPPING)
SHERLOCK: And, you know, in Damascus, there's been celebrations - also some looting. But also, Syrians are accessing places they've never been before, like Assad's family palace. This war plunged people into extreme poverty. Now you're seeing the opulence in which the Assad family lived, like sports cars in garages. And Syrians are coming out of the palace holding fine china and silverware.
FADEL: Yeah, I was watching those videos as they walked through this palace, seeing the riches he lived in as so many lived in poverty. I've also seen the videos of thousands of prisoners freed and just moving, heartbreaking scenes. What do we know about them?
SHERLOCK: Well, over 100,000 detainees are believed to be unaccounted for in Syria, and now their loved ones want to find them. So you've got families combing the Sednaya prison in Damascus. It's this huge complex. It was synonymous with fear and torture during the regime. Thousands of people have disappeared there. And now, you know, rights groups say that many of the prisoners have died there of neglect, of torture. There were mass executions in the prisons. But we're also seeing these incredible scenes of detainees being freed.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
SHERLOCK: What you're hearing here is, you know, sound from a video showing cell doors being bashed open as prisoners - gaunt and gray and dazed - are crying wildly as they learn that the regime has fallen. Some are too injured to walk, so you're seeing them drag themselves towards the exit. And rescuers believe, though, there are many more prisoners underground in these cells behind thick walls. So now they're searching for a way to free them, too.
FADEL: Really quickly, before I let you go - there's also an American who's been held for some 12 years, believed to be with the regime - Austin Tice, the American journalist who disappeared in Syria. What do we know there?
SHERLOCK: President Biden says the White House believes he is alive. And his parents, Marc and Debra Tice, have never given up. They're speaking to the media, calling on Syrians to find Austin and help him. Debra Tice said, direct him to his family, please.
FADEL: NPR's Ruth Sherlock. Thank you, Ruth.
SHERLOCK: Thank you, Leila. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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