For many Damascenes, the dominant feelings are a mix of joy and trepidation. “We’re happy, of course, but we’re afraid of what’s coming,” said Muna Maidani, a 28-year-old who was walking near Umayyad Square — one of the Syrian capital’s most famous landmarks — with her two children.

Rapturous celebrations in the streets of the capital were tempered by trepidation over whether the city’s new rebel caretakers could deliver a better future.

Tens of thousands of people held in Syria's notorious prisons have been freed in the 10 days since the insurgents began their lightning advance across the country that ended with the toppling of President Bashar Assad.