DAMASCUS – Syrians gathered at landmark squares in the Syrian capitalSaturday, honking their car horns, flashing victory signs and waving Syrianflags in scenes of defiance that followed unprecedented joint airstrikes bythe United States, France and Britain.
A few hours earlier, before sunrise, loud explosions jolted Damascus andthe sky turned orange as Syrian air defense units fired surface-to-airmissiles in response to three waves of military strikes meant to punishPresident Bashar Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons.
Associated Press reporters saw smoke rising from east Damascus and whatappeared to be a fire lighting up the sky. From a distance, U.S. missileshitting suburbs of the capital sounded like thunder. Shortly after theone-hour attack ended, vehicles with loudspeakers roamed the streets ofDamascus blaring nationalist songs.
“Good souls will not be humiliated,” Syria’s presidency tweeted after theairstrikes began.
Immediately after the attack, hundreds of residents gathered in Damascus’landmark Omayyad square, celebrating what they said was the army’s successin shooting down or derailing some of the missiles. Many waved Syrian,Russian and Iranian flags. Some clapped their hands and danced, othersdrove in convoys, honking their horns in defiance.
“We are not scared of America’s missiles. We humiliated their missiles,”said Mahmoud Ibrahim, half his body hanging outside his car window, wavinga Syrian flag.
The crowd then moved toward the nearby Damascus University wherepro-government fighters danced, waving their automatic rifles over theirheads.