Scenes From Latakia, Following The Fall Of The Assad Regime In Syria

LATAKIA, SYRIA - DECEMBER 19: Men wait in line outside a reconciliation center on December 19, 2024 in Latakia, Syria. Reconciliation centers have opened up in various cities across the country giving former conscripts of the Assad regime a chance to clear their names of any wrong doing and to gain new ID's and sever any previous ties with the regime. At the center former soldiers, military officers, and police officers, were given a number attached to their name, interviewed and had a headshot taken for a temporary ID. The Latakia center is processing 1500 people a day and lines stretch throughout the compound as thousands line up. The port city of Latakia on Syria's Mediterranean coast lies in the traditional heartland of the Alawite minority sect, from which the Assad family originates. In 2017, former president Bashar-al Assad leased the nearby Hmeimim air base to Russian ally forces, following their intervention in the Syrian civil war, which helped to turn the tide in Assad's favor. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)