The surrender of the Mazzeh air base outside Syrian capital Damascus by Bashar al-Assad's forces triggered a round of Israeli air strikes designed to prevent his former arsenal falling into the hands of Islamist rebels.
But it also allowed a Syrian former detainee to revisit the ordeal he suffered at the hand of Assad's ousted forces.
The president's long and brutal rule came to a sudden end last week, and on Wednesday young rebels were roaming Mazzeh, periodically firing an old Soviet-designed anti-aircraft gun into the sky.