News of Bashar al-Assad’s ouster sparked jubilation on the streets of Damascus and in Syrian communities around the world. But with the rebels, led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) — designated a foreign terrorist organization by the US — now in control, the future of the war-ravaged country remains uncertain.

HTS leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani once fought for al Qaeda against the US in Iraq, but he says his group has since moderated and plans to usher in democratic freedoms in Syria.

Middle East experts told CNN’s Jim Sciutto they are hopeful HTS can deliver a brighter future for Syrians who have lived under a crushing dictatorship for more than five decades.

“It’s hard to out-do Bashar al-Assad in terms of being bad for Syria and being bad for the world,” said Kim Ghattas, a Lebanese journalist and contributing writer to The Atlantic magazine.

For its part, it seems like HST is “saying all the right things, and not just saying them, but doing them,” said Natasha Hall, senior fellow at the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Hall said her friends in Syria have told her religious minorities are being reassured, and that HTS has kept some government positions in place in some formerly regime-controlled areas.

“It seems like HTS has learned a lot from its own past mistakes, but even America’s past mistakes,” she said, referring to the US policy of ‘De-Ba’athification’ during its invasion of Iraq, which involved removing the influence of Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath Party.

Syrians have been “dreaming for this moment for 13 years,” Ghattas said. “I think they have the ability now to come together.” But achieving an orderly and peaceful transition of power will need international support, Ghattas added.

“It is going to require the regional players Turkey, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Iran to support this transition as well as not bring their power games back to Syria,” she said.

Syrians ransacked Bashar al-Assad’s residences in Damascus after he fled to Russia, as videos showed rebels and civilians touring the grounds of his former homes and gaining an insight into the toppled dictator’s luxurious lifestyle.

Children were seen running into Assad’s Al Rawda presidential palace as men walked out with furniture, according to a Reuters video. An armed man was seen carrying a rifle in the palace.

(Source: CNN)