Syrian rebels set Hafez Assad’s tomb ablaze in "act of vengeance"

Opponents of deposed Syrian leader Bashar Assad have torched the mausoleum of his father, former dictator Hafez Assad, in Qardaha, the AFP news agency reported on Wednesday.

Videos circulating online show the family tomb engulfed in flames as a rebel waves the Syrian opposition flag and shouts slogans with restrained emotion.

A rebel-affiliated media outlet described the act as "vengeance" for the thousands of victims linked to the Assad regime. Hafez Assad, who ruled Syria for three decades before his death in 2000, was interred in his hometown of Qardaha, situated in Latakia province—a stronghold of the Alawite Muslim sect to which the Assad family belongs.

The mausoleum also houses the graves of other family members, including Bassel Assad, Bashar Assad's brother and the regime's original heir apparent, who died in a car accident in 1994. The torching of this symbolic site marks a dramatic act of defiance against the legacy of the Assad family.

* Ynet contributed to this article.