'My children will soon meet Syrian grandparents'

Mohammed Zain Alfaisal says he will soon return to Syria for the first time in 14 years

For the first time in their lives, Mohammed Zain Alfaisal's children will soon be able to meet their grandparents in Syria - a moment he said he had "never imagined would come".

Mr Alfaisal, who fled Syria as a refugee 14 years ago and settled in Greater Manchester, said he had "lost hope" of the Bashar al-Assad regime falling in his home country.

Rebel forces seized control of Damascus on Sunday with the former president fleeing the country and hundreds of Syrians gathered in Manchester city centre to celebrate.

Mr Alfaisal is now planning a trip home, saying: "We need to rebuild our country. We need to focus on teaching our kids forgiveness."

His parents and cousin have remained in Syria throughout years of devastating civil war.

Twelve days ago, the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied rebel factions launched a major offensive in north-western Syria, quickly capturing Aleppo and then sweeping southwards to the capital, Damascus, as the military collapsed.

Early on Sunday morning, HTS and its allies declared that "the tyrant Bashar al-Assad has fled".

Mr Alfaisal told BBC Radio Manchester: "We don't need blood in Syria anymore.

"The people in Syria want dignity, they want freedom."

Hundreds of Syrians gathered in Manchester city centre to celebrate the overthrow

Mr Alfaisal was among hundreds of Syrians who attended a celebration in St Peter's Square on Sunday.

Dr Yasmine Nahlawi from Manchester-based charity Rethink Rebuild Society, which organised the gathering, said: "As a Syrian community, we are feeling a mix of... very very powerful emotions - joy and celebration.

"But also... we are mourning the loss of people who didn't see this day."

Rama Terkmani fled Syria with her family at the age of six, a year after the war broke out, first to Egypt and then Liverpool where they have lived for almost a decade.

Now aged 19 and a medical student at the University of Central Lancashire, she said she had lost several family members in the war, and had a cousin who had been taken away by the Assad regime.

She said: "We don't know if he's alive or if he's not alive. We don't know anything."

Ms Terkmani said while she wanted to return to her home city of Damascus, she was grateful for the life she had in the UK.

She added: "This country supported me a lot with education, mental health issues."