President Ahmed al-Sharaa visited Syria's northern city of Aleppo Saturday as the country marks a year since a lightning operation that eventually toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad last December.

 

The alliance, led by Sharaa, entered Aleppo on November 29 last year and swiftly took control of Syria's second city.

 

"Aleppo was reborn, and with its rebirth, all of Syria was reborn. In moments like these, a new history for all of Syria was being written, through Aleppo and its proud citadel," Sharaa said on Saturday, addressing a crowd of hundreds from outside the city's famous monument.

 

Shortly afterwards, he appeared at the top of the citadel's tower near a huge Syrian flag.

 

Aleppo was an early venue for anti-Assad demonstrations in 2011 that spiralled into civil war.

 

Sharaa's forces launched their lightning operation on November 27 last year.

 

They went on to seize Damascus on December 8, toppling Assad and ending more than half a century of his family dynasty's iron-fisted rule.