Photo essay

With victory in sight, Assad posters crowd Damascus streets

Banners and slogans proclaiming Syrian leader’s glory for defeating rebels in civil war are ubiquitous in capital

By Hassan ammar 26 July 2018, 3:49 pm Edit

A poster of Syrian President Bashar Assad is displayed on the door of a souvenir store in the Takiyya complex in the old town of Damascus, Syria, July 18, 2018. (Hassan Ammar/AP)
Syrians pass by a poster of President Bashar Assad with Arabic that read, "Master of victory," hangs on a bridge in the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, July 14, 2018. (Hassan Ammar/AP)
Syrian army soldiers from the elite Republican Guard units, supporting the Croatia team, watch the soccer World Cup final match between France and Croatia at a check point in the town of Ain Terma, in the Eastern Ghouta suburb of Damascus, Syria, July 15, 2018. (Hassan Ammar/AP)
A Syrian army soldier holds his AK-47 rifle with stickers showing President Bashar Assad and Arabic that reads, "Heroes of Assad's Syria," as he stands guard at a check point at the Hamadiyah market, in the Old City of Damascus, Syria, July 19, 2018. (Hassan Ammar/AP)
A man passes by a poster of President Bashar Assad with Arabic that read, "Master of victory," hangs on a bridge in the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, July 14, 2018. (Hassan Ammar/AP)
A poster of President Bashar Assad with Arabic that read, "Leader of the victory," hangs on a street at Omayyid Square, Syria, July 18, 2018. (Hassan Ammar/AP)
A poster of President Bashar Assad with Arabic that read, "Yes," hangs on the Hamadiyah market, or souk in Arabic, that was named after the 34th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Abdul Hamid II, in the Old City of Damascus, Syria, July 19, 2018. (Hassan Ammar/AP)
A Syrian soldier stands guard in front barrels with Arabic that reads, "Crown of the Arab Bashar", left, and "Assad's Syria," at a checkpoint in the eastern Ghouta region, near the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, July 15, 2018. (Hassan Ammar/AP)
A mural depicting the Syrian President Bashar Assad, center, his father late Syrian President Hafez Assad, left, and his dead brother Bassel Assad, is displayed outside a military base in Homs, Syria, July 17, 2018. (Hassan Ammar/AP)
A poster of President Bashar Assad with Arabic that reads 'We have lived and we live so that Syria can live in the heart of Bashar Assad' hangs on the ruins of a house which was destroyed during the fight between Syrian government forces and insurgents, in the town of Ain Terma, in the Eastern Ghouta suburb of Damascus, Syria, July 15, 2018. (Hassan Ammar/AP)
A poster of Syrian President Bashar Assad with Arabic that reads "Welcome in victorious Syria," is displayed on the border between Lebanon and Syria, July 20, 2018. (Hassan Ammar/AP)
A Syrian woman talks on the mobile phone next to a poster of President Bashar Assad with Arabic that reads, "The Assad has Triumphed," hanging on a street in the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, July 18, 2018. (Hassan Ammar/AP)
A poster of President Bashar Assad with Arabic that read, "Syria Assad's wins," hangs on a street at Omayyid Square, Syria, July 18, 201. (Hassan Ammar/AP)

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — His face is everywhere, on every public square, market and street corner in Damascus, as well as on the roads and highways leading to the Syrian capital.

Buoyed by successive military advances over the past year and having completely secured Damascus — President Bashar Assad’s seat of power — and the surrounding suburbs for the first time in years, the government is openly boasting about its victories.

And there is no shortage of posters and billboards for the triumphant message.

“Master of victories,” proclaims one poster of a smiling Assad in a blue suit and tie, placed on a street in Damascus.

After almost seven and a half years of war and with crucial military support from Russia and Iran, Assad has reasserted control over previously lost territory in the country’s north, center and south, near the border with Jordan and the frontier with the Israeli Golan Heights.

Rebel-fired shells that slammed into Damascus from outlying opposition-held suburbs have ceased.

The posters, most of them offered up by businessmen and companies loyal to Assad, begin as soon as one crosses into Syria from Lebanon: “Welcome to victorious Syria,” they say.

“The Assad has Triumphed,” reads the caption on one poster in Damascus, a play on Assad’s family name which means the lion in Arabic. “The leader of the victory,” reads another, a huge poster standing in the landmark Omayyad Square, next to the monument known as the Damascene Sword.

In the city’s famed Hamidiyeh souk, a covered bazaar, a soldier on a checkpoint slung an AK-47 over his shoulder, with stickers of Assad’s face on it.

The posters are less ubiquitous in the bombed-out eastern suburbs, retaken by troops earlier this year, but still visible.

At the entrance to shattered Ain Terma, as if rising from the ashes, a white banner hangs on the skeleton of a building.

Assad’s photo is on it, with the words: “We have lived and we live so that Syria may live on in Bashar Assad’s heart.”