Thousands gathered in northwestern Syria on Friday for weekly prayers and a rally where clerics in the port city of Latakia, a former stronghold of ousted President Bashar al-Assad, urged national unity under the country's new government.

"Freedom forever despite Assad," some in the crowd at the square outside Al-Ajjan mosque chanted, along with "God is greatest" and "One, one, one, Syrian people are one".

Syrian rebels toppled Assad and his family's brutal five-decade rule on Sunday and formed a new administration led by former al Qaeda offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham(HTS). The group has promised a tolerant and inclusive new order.

After the first Friday prayers since Assad's overthrow, religious leaders addressed a crowd of thousands outside the mosque, calling for people to give up their weapons, Reuters reported.

Some spectators waved Syria's new flag while the country's new anthem, a rebel song adopted for the purpose, played over speakers.

Khaled Kamal, a Sunni imam who spoke at the gathering, told Reuters after the rally that it was a "joy like no other" to return to Syria after fleeing abroad during the war. He called on all Syrians abroad to return.

"To be honest, this moment is indescribable," Kamal said.

"We welcome any president for Syria, whether it's a Sunni, an Alawite or Christian, as long as the people choose him," he added, referring to Assad's Alawite ethnic and religious group.

The future in Syria, where the Sunni HTS has emerged as the dominant force, holds uncertainty for many, especially its minorities.

Shi'ite Muslims, whose Alawite offshoot is centred in Latakia, are thought to be about a tenth of the population, which stood at 23 million before the country's civil war began in 2013.

Muhammed Reda Hatem Abdullah, an influential Alawite preacher who took part in the rally, said he did not discriminate against any group and wanted to see all faiths stand united.

"The unity of Syria is an ambition that we will pass on to our children and the future generations. They will know that the sanctity of the homeland is part of the sanctity of humanity," he said in an interview.

Suheil Hamwi spent 32 years in a Syrian prison, and now, after an offensive by rebel fighters that toppled the government of Bashar al-Assad, he’s finally returned to his home in Lebanon.

In 1992, Hamwi worked as a merchant, selling various goods in the town of Chekka in northern Lebanon. On the night of Eid il-Burbara, or Saint Barbara’s Day — a holiday similar to Halloween — a car filled with men pulled up outside his house and forced him into the vehicle.

It would be years before his family heard from him again.

Hamwi was one of hundreds of Lebanese citizens detained during Syria’s occupation of Lebanon from 1976 to 2005 and believed to be held in Syrian prisons for decades.

On Sunday, freedom came to him and others unexpectedly — prisoners who’d heard rumors about Syria’s opposition forces and their sweeping campaign found that guards had abandoned their posts.

Hamwi and other prisoners left, he said, and he would soon be among the first from Lebanon to reenter the country.

“I’m still scared this might not be real,” he told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday from his home — the same one he left more than three decades ago.

For years after the night of his disappearance, Hamwi’s family didn’t know where he was. It wasn’t until 16 years later that his wife discovered he was imprisoned in Syria. Even then, the reason for his detention remained unclear, Hamwi said.

It took another four years before authorities finally told him the charge, he said: He was detained because he was a member of the Lebanese Forces, a Christian political party that also functioned as a militia during the 15-year Lebanese civil war that ended in 1990.

The party fought against Syrian forces and remained opposed to Syria’s military presence in Lebanon afterward.

He said he spent his first years in Syria’s notorious Saydnaya prison before being transferred to other facilities, eventually ending up in prison in Latakia. Torture marked his early days behind bars, he added, “but that stopped after a while.”

For years, he said, he lived in nearly complete isolation. He was alone in a small cell, surrounded by other Lebanese detainees as well as Palestinians and Iraqis.

In 2008, he said, his wife was able to visit him for the first time. Then she came about once a year.

Last week, there was some buzz in the prison about what was happening outside. “But we didn’t know the dream would reach us,” Hamwi told AP.

Early Sunday morning, chaos erupted as prisoners discovered the guards were gone.

“The first door opened,” Hamwi said, describing how rebels stormed the prison and started opening cell gates. “Then others followed. And for those who couldn’t open their gates, they started coming out through the walls.”

The prisoners left “walking toward the unknown,” he said. “And I walked with them.”

Strangers on the street helped guide him back to Lebanon, Hamwi said. He came into the country through the Arida border crossing in northern Lebanon, where his family waited on the other side.

As Hamwi walked through his door, it was his two grandchildren who greeted him.

“This is the first time I met them,” Hamwi later told AP, his voice tinged with disbelief.

Hawmi has visited a hospital for tests to assess the toll of 32 years in captivity. And he has to relearn life outside prison walls.

He hoped one of the best moments was yet to come: his reunion with only son George, an engineer working in the Gulf.

In their first phone call, Hamwi said, George told him the words he’d been longing to hear: “I miss you. I love you. I’m waiting to see you.”

Syrian rebels, led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, on Tuesday appointed Mohammad al-Bashir as head of a transitional government that will be in place until March 1.

According to a statement attributed to Bashir, he is the “new Syrian Prime Minister”.

He also said: “The general command has tasked us with running the transitional government until March 1."

On Sunday, the rebels led by HTS, seized the capital Damascus in a lightning offensive, toppling Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Assad fled the country and is believed to be in Moscow with his family.

Until now, Bashir was the head of the rebels’ Salvation Government in northwest Syria.

According to The New Arab, the Salvation Government, with its own ministries, departments, judicial and security authorities, was set up in the Idlib bastion in 2017 to assist people in the rebel-held area cut off from government services.

It has since begun rolling out assistance in Aleppo, the first major city to fall after the rebels began their offensive.

Who is Mohammed al-Bashir?

Bashir is a Syrian engineer and politician who began serving as the fifth prime minister of the self-declared HTS administration, the Syrian Salvation Government, in January.

He was born in Idlib in 1986, according to a CV published by the Salvation Government. He holds multiple qualifications spanning engineering, law, and administrative planning.

He earned a degree in electrical and electronic engineering, specialising in communications, from the University of Aleppo in 2007.

In 2010, he completed an advanced English language course administered by the ministry of education.

In 2021, he obtained a degree in Sharia and law with honours from the University of Idlib. That same year, he also received a certificate in administrative planning and a certification in project management from the Syrian International Academy for Training, Languages, and Consulting, The New Arab reported.

He then worked as an engineer supervising the establishment of a gas plant affiliated with the Syrian Gas Company.

Developments under Bashir

In 2021, following the Syrian uprising against Assad, Bashir left his job at government institutions, joining "the ranks of the revolutionaries in the military field".

Between 2022 and 2023, he served as the minister of development and humanitarian affairs under his predecessor, Ali Keda.

In January 2024, the Shura Council of the Salvation Government elected him as prime minister.