DAMASCUS, May 6, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - At Basel al-Sati's souvenir shop in a central Damascus market, socks bearing caricatures that ridicule ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and his once feared family now sell like hot cakes.

"I want to bring joy to people who've been deprived of happiness for so many days and years," said Sati, 31, displaying pairs of white ankle-length socks.

"Everyone who comes from abroad wants to buy the socks -- some to keep as a souvenir, others to wear mockingly and take pictures," he told AFP.

"There are even some who buy them just to stomp on them," he said.

Stamping on someone's image is considered deeply insulting in the Arab world, so the socks allow wearers to trample the Assads underfoot as they walk.

Pictures of the Assad clan have gone from being ubiquitous symbols of repression to objects of derision and mockery since his December 8 ouster by Islamist-led forces after nearly 14 years of devastating civil war.

Some socks showing Assad in sunglasses read "We will trample them", while others depict him with heavily exaggerated features.

Others bear a caricature of Hafez al-Assad who ruled Syria before his son, depicted in his underwear and chest puffed out.

They bear the phrase "This is what the Assads look like" -- a play on the family's last name, which means lion.

Assad's once feared younger brother Maher labelled "the captagon king" also features. Western governments accused Maher and his entourage of turning Syria into a narco state, flooding the Middle East with the illegal stimulant.

- 'No better' gift -

Sati's shop, brimming with other gift items, is decorated with images from Syria's revolution.

An image of Assad is on the ground at the entrance so people can walk on it.

"It's another kind of celebration, for all the Syrians who couldn't celebrate in Ummayad Square after the fall of the regime," Sati said.

The Damascus landmark filled with huge crowds from across the country and hosted days of celebrations after Assad's ouster, with people raising the now official three-starred flag symbolising the revolution.

Afaf Sbano, 40, who returned after fleeing to Germany a decade ago, said she had come to buy "Assad socks", which sell for around a dollar a pair, for friends.

There is "no better" gift for those "who can't come to Syria to celebrate the fall of the regime", she told AFP.

"I bought more than 10 extra pairs for my friends after I shared a photo on Instagram," she said.

"We had never dared to even imagine making fun of him" before, she added.

- 'People hate him' -

Manufacturer Zeyad Zaawit, 29, said the idea of socks to mock the Assads came to him after the former ruler was deposed and fled to Russia.

Zaawit started with a small number and then ramped up production when he saw they were selling fast.

"People hate him," Zaawit said of Assad.

"I took revenge on him this way after he fled," he said, adding that the socks were so popular that some customers even paid in advance.

Zaawit said he produced around 1,000 pairs in the first week and has since tripled production, making more than 200,000 pairs in three months.

Images of the socks have been shared widely on social media and they have even been used in satirical television programmes.

Assad's own words have also been turned against him -- including a refusal to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a foe who is close to Syria's new authorities.

Erdogan made repeated overtures to Assad in the period before his overthrow.

In August 2023, Assad famously said: "Why should I meet Erdogan? To drink refreshments?"

The pronouncement, now the subject of jokes on social media, appears on posters in food and juice stalls, sometimes accompanied by mocking images of Assad.