Syria latest: 'The future is ours,' says rebel leader after Assad flees Damascus

At the Turkish-Syrian border, hours after the rebels entered Damascus, there was a group of around 50 Syrian men waiting to go back to their country.

This is the crossing that leads to Idlib, which for years was the rebel stronghold in the north-west, and Aleppo, the country’s second-largest city that was captured from government forces last week.

Abdo Ghrebi, 27, left the country in 2017 and was trying to return to Idlib.

He said people in Syria had been waiting for this moment "for a long time".

He was travelling by himself, and said his mother and sister were planning to join him once things were more stable.

"We’re peaceful people. We never liked any war or violence, we only wanted peace, unlike the regime," he said.

"We lost a lot of martyrs but, thankfully, we’re now getting our dignity and freedom back and will have a better future. Our losses weren’t in vain."

He said his father and brother died during the siege of Eastern Ghouta by government forces in the early stages of the civil war, and that he only managed to escape through a tunnel.

Said Kreaydiye, 29, was also attempting the journey back to Idlib, where his mother was waiting for him. He carried only a rucksack and a small plastic bag.

When I asked him what he thought about President Assad’s fall, he gave me a big smile.

"We’re high from the happiness of seeing him gone. We hope everything will be better. At least, we will be at home."