In Damascus, socks mock the ousted president and his clan

In his shop on a commercial street in Damascus, Bassel al-Sati offers a whole range of socks with caricatures of the ousted president Bashar al-Assad and his family, ridiculing the man who ruled Syria with an iron fist.

"Everyone coming from abroad wants to buy these socks to keep as a souvenir and mock the Assad clan," says the 31-year-old merchant. The caricatures are accompanied by ironic captions. "We will trample on them," reads one under the image of Bashar al-Assad, who crushed the 2011 popular uprising in blood, sparking a civil war.

The socks with the caricature of his brother are labeled "The king of Captagon." Maher al-Assad headed the formidable Fourth brigade of the Syrian army which controlled the drug trade. In his shop of gifts and souvenirs, Bassel al-Sati has also laid out posters of Bashar al-Assad on the floor for clients to trample on, keeping others in reserve. "It's for Syrians who couldn’t come in time to celebrate the fall of the regime," he says. "They can trample, burn, or do whatever they want with them."

"Not even in your dreams"

In one night, the clan that controlled Syria for half a century and terrorized the population collapsed, overthrown on December 8 by an Islamist coalition, after plunging the country into a civil war that claimed over half a million lives and forced millions of Syrians to flee. Afaf Sbano, 40, returned to Damascus after ten years of exile in Germany, headed directly to Souk al-Hariqa in the old city to buy the famous socks that dozens of her friends had ordered. "It's the best gift for my friends who couldn't come to Damascus to celebrate the fall of the regime," says this woman who was wanted by the ousted powers.

Germany hosts over a million Syrians, many of whom fled the bloody civil war. "I bought more than ten extra pairs for others after sharing a photo on Instagram ... We wouldn’t dare mock him, not even in dreams."

It was a few days after Assad's escape to Moscow that Ziad Zaouit, 29, had the idea to manufacture these socks in his factory. "It's a way to humiliate Assad because people hate him, I got revenge on him after his escape," he says. His socks are selling like hotcakes, and he had to increase production due to high demand. In three months, he has already produced 200,000 pairs.

Assad’s famous phrases are also mocked, especially when he scoffed at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's proposal to meet him. "Why should we meet, Erdogan and I? To drink cold drinks, for example?" he had asked.

Now, this phrase adorns juice shops, coupled with a photo of Bashar al-Assad displaying a sardonic smile.