For many Damascenes, the dominant feelings are a mix of joy and trepidation. “We’re happy, of course, but we’re afraid of what’s coming,” said Muna Maidani, a 28-year-old who was walking near Umayyad Square — one of the Syrian capital’s most famous landmarks — with her two children.

Rapturous celebrations in the streets of the capital were tempered by trepidation over whether the city’s new rebel caretakers could deliver a better future.