Shortly after Assad’s fall, a CNN reporting team had an unexpected encounter. While covering a story in one of Assad’s regime prisons, they discovered a man hiding in a cell. When found, the man raised his arms, saying, “I’m a civilian, I’m a civilian.”

The regime’s collapse was so swift that it caught many off guard, including the Syrians themselves.

Note: Most Syrians were born and raised under the Assad family dictatorship, and witnessing its downfall in just 10 days was undoubtedly a shock for many.