Syrian Rebels Burn Coffin Of Assad’s Father

The tomb of ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s father has been burnt by rebel fighters.

Pictures show men circling the burning coffin of Hafez al-Assad, who ruled Syria for 29 years, after they stormed his mausoleum in the Assad family’s ancestral village of Qardaha, near Latakia.

Other footage showed the fighters posing with the flag of the revolution at the incinerated grave site before they dragged the coffin into a car park.

Bashar al-Assad was forced to flee Syria for Moscow on Sunday, when the rebel coalition forces entered Damascus, claiming victory in the Syrian civil war that had raged for nearly 14 years.

After taking control of the capital, fighters ripped down and burnt banners and portraits of the Assad family and dragged statues of their former rulers around with trucks.

Hafez al-Assad, a former air force pilot, was the president of Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000.