Crossing into Syria from neighboring Lebanon, visitors are greeted by giant posters of President Bashar Assad.
The signs proclaim: "Welcome to victorious Syria."
In the capital of Damascus, many of the checkpoints that for years have snarled traffic are gone. The city is again connected to its sprawling suburbs once held by the opposition, and many former residents and visitors from other parts of Syria fill its streets.
There's a new feeling of hope that an end is near to Syria's seven-year civil war.
"It is almost over," Nazeer Habash, 60, said as he walked home near the Hijaz train station in central Damascus. "It is like a child when he starts to walk, taking one step after another, and victory will always be on our side."
In a central square not far from where rebel shells used to land just a few months ago, families and groups of teenagers took selfies. Children played on a large sculpture spelling out, "I (heart) Damascus."