A Syrian rebel fighter holds an Islamist black flag depicting the Islamic Shahada (the creed stating a belief in one god and the acceptance that Mohammed was God's prophet), while walking in the courtyard of the 8th-century Umayyad Mosque in Damascus on December 10, 2024. Islamist-led rebels took Damascus in a lightning offensive on December 8, ousting president Bashar al-Assad and ending five decades of Baath rule in Syria. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)