“No one slept in Syria last night… not a single Syrian abroad slept,” said Rania Kataf, who runs the People of Damascus Facebook page.
“The whole community was holding their phones waiting for the latest news.
“How do I feel? Shocked.. We all feel like we’ve been underwater for literally thirteen years and we all just sighed.
“And I know there are so many people who are much older than me who have been through too much.”
She said she had “mixed feelings” since the insurgent groups’ offensive began, but she was no longer afraid.
Earlier, according to her, she was “afraid to express her opinion that I was so afraid to even like, to give a heart to someone from the opposition.”
Another resident of Damascus, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the BBC: “For the first time there was a real sense of freedom.”
He described celebrations in the streets and in Umayyad Square, a landmark in central Damascus that houses key government offices, including the Ministry of Defense and the Syrian Armed Forces.
