People were gathering to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad and his iron-fisted rule before the official celebrations began, said FRANCE 24's correspondent in Syria Dana Alboz, reporting from Umayyad Square, Damascus. In northern Syria, the celebrations were banned by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for security reasons, while the situation in the south "is critical as well", after massacres and killings committed against the Druze community.