This blog is now closed. You can see our latest full report on Syria here and all our coverage from the region here. Thanks for reading.
Syrian rebel leader to publish 'list' of former officials wanted for torture
Syria’s Islamist rebel leader on Tuesday said the incoming authorities will announce a list “that includes the names of the most senior officials involved in torturing the Syrian people”, AFP reports.
“We will offer rewards to anyone who provides information about senior army and security officers involved in war crimes,” rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, now using his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, said in a statement on Telegram, adding they will ask for the return of those who fled the country.
The leader on Monday met with Syrian prime minister Mohammed al-Jalali “to coordinate a transfer of power that guarantees the provision of services” to Syria’s people. Jalali told al-Arabiya television he had agreed to hand over power to the rebel “salvation government”.
This year has been “particularly deadly” for journalists with 104 killed worldwide, over half of them being in Gaza, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said Tuesday.
The toll for 2024 is down on the 129 deaths in 2023 but still makes it “one of the worst years” on record, IFJ general secretary Anthony Bellanger told AFP.
According to the figures collated by the press group 55 Palestinian media workers were killed in 2024 in the face of Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
“Since the start of the war on 7 October 2023, at least 138 Palestinian journalists have been killed,” the federation said.
UN security council working on joint statement amid 'fluid situation' in Syria
Members of the UN security council on Monday discussed the fluid situation in Syria after President Bashar al-Assad’s fall, AFP reports, opting to stand by and await further developments, according to ambassadors who attended the closed-door meeting.
“The Council, I think, was more or less united on the need to preserve the territorial integrity and unity of Syria, to ensure the protection of civilians, to ensure that humanitarian aid is coming,” Russian UN ambassador Vassili Nebenzia told reporters after the emergency meeting requested by Moscow.
Russia was a key ally of Assad, who was toppled by Islamist-led rebels over the weekend after a short and stunning offensive.
“But look, everyone was taken by surprise by the events, everyone, including the members of the council. So we have to wait,” to see how the situation will evolve, he said.
Deputy US ambassador Robert Wood called it “a very fluid situation.”
“No one expected the Syrian forces to fall like a house of cards,” he continued.
“As many folks said in the consultations … the situation is extremely fluid and is likely to change day to day for the time being,” Wood said.
However, Wood noted that “just about everyone spoke about the need for Syria’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence to be respected, and concern about the humanitarian situation,” indicating the council is working on a joint statement.
“The intention is for the council to speak with one voice on the situation in Syria,” he said.
When asked about the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, which led the rebel coalition which toppled Assad, and whether it would be removed from the UN sanctions list, both Nebenzia and Wood said the council has not yet broached the topic.
Since the Syrian civil war first broke out in 2011, the UNSC has largely been paralyzed in its response, with Russia consistently using its veto power to protect Assad’s government.
Updated
White Helmets end search operations at Sednaya prison
The Syrian Civil Defense has ended its search for possible remaining detainees at the infamous Sednaya prison, adding that it had not uncovered any “evidence of undiscovered secret cells or basements”.
In a statement, the group also known as the White Helmets said:
Specialized teams from The White Helmets conducted a thorough search of all sections, facilities, basements, courtyards, and surrounding areas of the prison. These operations were carried out with the assistance of individuals familiar with the prison and its layout. However, no evidence of undiscovered secret cells or basements was found.
The operation involved five teams, including two K9 (trained police dog) units. The teams inspected all entrances, exits, ventilation shafts, sewage systems, water pipes, electrical wiring, and surveillance camera cables. Despite these extensive efforts, no hidden or sealed areas were identified.
The group said it “shared the profound disappointment of the families of the thousands who remain missing and whose fates remain unknown”, while urging social media users to be mindful of the widespread misinformation and rumors circulating about prisons and detainees.
Raed al-Saleh – the director of Syria’s Civil Defence organisation, known as the White Helmets – earlier said on Monday that the prison was “hell” for those detained in it.
“[Sednaya] doesn’t give the impression that it is a prison. It is a human slaughterhouse where human beings are being slaughtered and tortured,” Saleh told Al Jazeera.
Updated
Israel launched more than 100 airstrikes on Syrian military targets – reports
The Israeli air force launched more than 100 airstrikes targeting military sites in four Syrian cities, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The strikes killed two people and caused extensive damage to key military facilities.
The targeted military sites included research centres, weapons warehouses, airports and aircraft squadrons, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The attacks also disabled air defense systems and rendered multiple sites inoperable.
Among the targets were research centers in Hama and Damascus, including the Barzeh Scientific Research Center. The facility has previously been targeted, most notably during a 2018 US-led coalition strike in response to Syria’s alleged chemical weapons program.
In Damascus, the Associated Press reported plumes of smoke rising from the Barzeh research facility as weapon warehouses were also struck. Heavy explosions were heard across the capital.
In the port city of Latakia, airstrikes hit an air defense facility near the coastal port, damaging Syrian naval ships and warehouses previously controlled by the former Syrian regime, the Syrian Observatory said.
In Daraa, a city in southwestern Syria, strikes targeted military positions and warehouses in the western countryside and northern areas, killing two people, the observatory said.
An Israeli security source, meanwhile, told the state-funded Israeli Army Radio that the country’s military has carried out “one of the largest attack operations in the history of its air force” in Syria following al-Assad’s removal.
The unnamed source said that “more than 250 military targets were attacked in Syria”, including army bases, fighter jets, missile systems and warehouses.
In a letter to the 15-member UN security council, which was meeting Monday afternoon to discuss developments in Syria following Sunday’s toppling of president Bashar al-Assad, Israel insisted its actions were “limited and temporary measures” to protect its citizens, particularly in the Golan Heights that borders Syria. (see earlier post here)
Updated
The US state department says it is not actively reviewing the “foreign terrorist organization” designation of the main Syrian rebel group that overthrew Bashar al-Assad’s government this weekend.
But it says such designations are constantly under review and that even while it is in place, the designation does not bar US officials speaking with members or leaders of the group.
“There is no specific review related to what happened” over the weekend, state department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Monday. “That said, we are always reviewing. Based on their actions there could be a change in our sanctions posture, but we have nothing today.”
The so-called FTO designation imposes numerous sanctions against those targeted, including a ban on the provision of “material support” to such groups, although Miller said that would not necessarily prevent discussions between its members and US officials.
He cited the case of the Trump administration negotiating with the Taliban over the US withdrawal from Afghanistan but later conceded that the Taliban has never been designated an FTO, the Associated Press reported.
Instead, the Taliban was listed as a “specially designated terrorist organization” a label that comes with less stringent sanctions.
Syria’s UN ambassador says the country’s embassies and missions have received instructions to continue doing their job during the current transitional period, the Associated Press reports.
“We are with the Syrian people,” Koussay Aldahhak told reporters on Monday outside the UN security council where members were holding emergency closed consultations.
The envoy said:
Syria now is witnessing a new era of change, a new historical phase of its history and Syrians are looking forward for establishing a state of freedom, equality, rule of law, democracy.
We will join efforts to rebuild our country, to rebuild what was destroyed, and to rebuild the future, a better future of Syria for all Syrians.
On instructions from the current leaders, Aldahhak said he sent letters to the security council and secretary-general António Guterres Monday condemning and demanding an end to Israeli attacks on Syria, and demanding “to not allow Israel to benefit from the transition that the Syrians are doing now.”
Aldahhak said like everyone he was surprised at the sudden transformation in the country.
Asked whether he was happy about it, he said that even though the UN mission is thousands of miles from Syria, “When Syrians are happy, we are happy. When Syrians are suffering, we are suffering.”
Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel for almost 60 years, will remain part of Israel “for eternity”, amid growing criticism of an Israeli takeover of a previously demilitarised buffer zone in Syrian-controlled territory.
Speaking at a press conference in Jerusalem, the Israeli prime minister said Israeli control of the high ground “ensures our security and sovereignty” adding “the Golan will be part of the State of Israel for eternity”.
Over the weekend, Netanyahu ordered troops to move into a UN-patrolled buffer zone and attacked what it said were regime weapons depots with airstrikes, as the shock victory of Syrian rebels over Bashar al-Assad reshapes the region’s frontlines.
The UN said on Monday that the move constituted a violation of a 1974 disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria.
“There should be no military forces or activities in the area of separation. And Israel and Syria must continue to uphold the terms of that 1974 agreement, and preserve stability in the Golan,” said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary general, António Guterres.
Most of the Golan Heights plateau has been occupied by Israel since 1967. It was fully annexed in 1981, a move not recognised by most of the international community.
The Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Saar, said the airstrikes were to stop arms falling into the hands of those who may want to harm Israel and its citizens.
US prosecutors have indicted two senior Syrian officials of overseeing a notorious torture centre that abused peaceful protesters, including a 26-year-old American woman who was later believed to have been executed, the Associated Press reports.
The indictment was released Monday, two days after a shock rebel offensive overthrew Syrian President Bashar Assad. The US, UN and others accuse him of widespread human rights abuses in a 13-year battle to crush opposition forces seeking his removal from power.
The indictment, filed 18 November in federal court in Chicago, is believed to be the US government’s first against what officials say were networks of Assad intelligence services and military branches that detained, tortured and killed thousands of perceived enemies.
It names Jamil Hassan, director of the Syrian air force’s intelligence branch, who prosecutors say oversaw a prison and torture center at the Mezzeh air force base in the capital, Damascus, and Abdul Salam Mahmoud, who prosecutors say ran the prison.
Victims included Syrians, Americans and dual citizens, the indictment said. The US-based Syrian Emergency Task Force has long pushed federal prosecutors for action on one case, that of 26-year-old American aid worker Layla Shweikani.
The group presented witnesses who testified of Shweikani’s 2016 torture at the prison. Syrian rights groups believe she was later executed at the Sednaya military prison in the Damascus suburbs.
The whereabouts of the two Syrian officials were not immediately known, and the prospects of bringing them to trial were unclear. Assad’s toppling by the rebels over the weekend has scattered his government and left citizens searching prison torture centres around the country for survivors and evidence.
Syrian rebels say they found tortured bodies in hospital near Damascus
Rebel fighters said they found about 40 bodies bearing signs of torture inside a hospital morgue near Damascus on Monday, stuffed into body bags with numbers and sometimes names written on them, AFP reports.
“I opened the door of the morgue with my own hands, it was a horrific sight: about 40 bodies were piled up showing signs of gruesome torture,” Mohammed al-Hajj, a fighter with rebel factions from the country’s south told AFP by telephone from Damascus.
AFP saw dozens of photographs and video footage that Hajj said he took himself and showed corpses with evident signs of torture: eyes and teeth gouged out, blood splattered and bruising.
The footage taken in Harasta hospital also showed a piece of cloth containing bones, while a decomposing body’s rib cage peaked through the skin.
The bodies were placed in white plastic bags or wrapped in white cloth, some stained with blood.
Corpses had pieces of cloth or adhesive tape bearing scribbled numbers and sometimes names.
Some seemed to have been killed recently.
Updated
Summary of the day
It’s 2.30am Tuesday in Teheran, 2am Tuesday in Damascus and Moscow, and 1am in Beirut, Tel Aviv and Gaza City, the beginning of what is certain to be another fast-paced day as the Middle East comes to terms with Sunday’s sudden downfall of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
Here’s what we’ve been following:
Israel launched a barrage of military strikes in numerous locations in Syria, but said in a letter to the United Nations that its actions were “limited and temporary measures” to protect its citizens. Dozens of planes, helicopters and other equipment were destroyed in attacks on army bases, and explosions were heard in Damascus where Israel has targeted facilities linked to chemical weapons and electronic warfare.
The United Nations security council was scheduled to meet behind closed doors in New York to discuss ongoing developments.
The former Syrian prime minister Mohammed Ghazi al-Jalali agreed to hand over power to the rebel “Salvation Government”, according to Al Arabiya TV in a development reported by Reuters.
Diplomats from Qatar spoke with the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) as regional states raced to open contact with the group that toppled Assad and position themselves favorably. The country will talk again Tuesday with Mohamed al-Bashir, an HTS leader appointed to lead Syria’s transitional administration, Reuters reported.
The White House said Joe Biden spoke to Jordan’s King Abdullah II, emphasizing his full support for a Syrian-led transition process under the auspices of the UN. The president and king also discussed eastern Syria, including US airstrikes against Islamic State fighters. US forces conducted dozens of airstrikes, dropping about 140 munitions on about 75 targets, according to US Central Command.
The recovery of the American journalist Austin Tice held hostage in Syria was a “top priority” of the Biden administration, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told ABC’s Good Morning America.
Rebel forces in Syria announced a general amnesty for all conscripted soldiers who served during the Assad regime. “The Military Operations Directorate announces a general amnesty for all conscripted soldiers serving under mandatory service. Their safety is guaranteed,” the rebel forces said in a Telegram message.
Hundreds of people flocked to Sednaya prison - the facility known locally as ‘the human slaughterhouse’ in an attempt to find a trace of their disappeared loved ones. It was rumored that 1,500 prisoners were still detained in hidden underground cells, after thousands of detainees were freed on Sunday.
Three Israeli soldiers were killed during fighting in the northern Gaza strip. 12 IDF soldiers were wounded in the same incident, including two seriously wounded, Israeli media reported.
Turkey opened its Yayladagi border gate with Syria to manage the safe and voluntary return of the millions of migrants it hosts, President Tayyip Erdoğan said as hundreds gathered at border crossings.
It is “too early” to say whether the UK will strip the wife of Bashar al-Assad, Asma al-Assad, of her British citizenship, the prime minister, Keir Starmer, said. The UK has yet make a decision on whether to reverse its designation of HTS as a terrorist organization.
The UK joined Germany, France, Italy and other European nations who announced they were suspending or considering suspending programs to admit asylum seekers from Syria.
Syrian Civil Defense (the White Helmets) offered a $3,000 reward for information leading to the discovery of the Assad regime’s rumored network of secret prisons in what the organization believes is a race against time to find prisoners who may be trapped and abandoned by the sudden collapse of the regime.
Israel is now more optimistic about a possible hostage deal in Gaza, its foreign minister Gideon Saar said, amid reports that Hamas had asked for lists of all hostages still held by militant groups in the Palestinian enclave.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said president Vladimir Putin personally approved the decision to grant Bashar al-Assad asylum in Russia. Peskov said it was “premature” to discuss the future of Russia’s military presence inside Syria
The Syrian embassy in Moscow was seen flying the three-starred flag of opposition to Assad’s fallen regime. Tass reported the embassy has had no contact with Assad.
This is Richard Luscombe in the US signing off from our live blog. My colleagues in Australia will guide you through the next hours.
Updated
Here’s our latest report of Monday’s developments in the Middle East by the Guardian’s senior international reporter Peter Beaumont:
Bombing raids have hit sites across Syria as regional actors in the Middle East scrambled to defend their interests in the country after the sudden fall of its president, Bashar al-Assad, who fled to Moscow.
As rebels led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) freed regime prisoners, including from the notorious Sednaya jail – often referred to as the “human slaughterhouse” – Israel, Turkey and the US carried out military action as Assad’s former backers in Russia and Iran also engaged in efforts to shape a future Syria.
With events moving at an often dizzying pace, the rebels who toppled Assad announced on Telegram that they were issuing a general amnesty for regime military conscripts, as former Syrian prime minister Mohammed al-Jalali told al-Arabiya television he had agreed to hand over power to the rebel “salvation government”.
The US has struck targets associated with Islamic State in central Syria, while Turkey has attacked US-backed Kurdish forces. A deal for the Kurdish forces to withdraw from the northern city of Manbij was reportedly struck on Monday after an advance by Turkish-backed Syrian National Army.
Israel also confirmed that it had sent forces into the buffer zone beyond the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and into former Syrian military positions on Mount Hermon in what it described as a “temporary measure”.
Read the full report:
The leaders of France and Germany, both among a number of European nations that announced Monday a suspension of admission programs for Syrian asylum seekers, said they were ready to cooperate with the country’s new leadership.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz and French president Emmanuel Macron spoke by phone to discuss their positions, an official for the Berlin government told AFP.
“Both agreed they were ready to cooperate with the new leadership on the basis of fundamental human rights and the protection of ethnic and religious minorities,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
They reiterated “the importance of of preserving Syria’s territorial integrity and sovereignty”, the official added, noting the leaders agreed to work together to strengthen the European Union’s commitment to Syria.
According to AFP, Germany has taken in almost one million Syrians, with most arriving in 2015-16 during the chancellorship of Angela Merkel.
Qatar quick to engage with Syria's new leaders
Diplomats from Qatar spoke with the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Damascus on Monday as regional states raced to open contact with the group and position themselves favorably, Reuters reported.
The news agency said the early opening of discussions with the group that toppled Bashar al-Assad has led to the scheduling of a further meeting Tuesday between Qatar and Mohamed al-Bashir, an HTS leader appointed to lead Syria’s transitional administration, the news agency said, citing an unidentified official.
“The focus is on the need for HTS and other groups to maintain calm and preserve Syria’s public institutions during the transition period,” the official said.
Governments across the region are scrambling to forge new links with HTS and other rebel groups involved in the offensive that seized control of much of Syria, Reuters said
Qatar’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
HTS, also known as the Levant Liberation Union, is led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani. It has origins in al-Qaida and Islamic State, and was formally founded in 2017 after breaking with both, the Guardian’s Jason Burke reports.
It has governed 2m people in Idlib province, and evolved a more pragmatic ideology, many analysts say. It is designated a terrorist organization by the US, European Union, Turkey and the United Nations, who have concerns about its extremist roots and the presence of veteran jihadist fighters among its forces.
Updated
Rashida Tlaib, a Democratic US congresswoman from Michigan, who was born to Palestinian immigrant parents, says other nations must allow Syrians to determine their own future.
“The future of Syria is uncertain, and all Syrians must be involved in the process to establish a democratic, pluralistic state,” she said in a statement Monday afternoon:
We must reject attempts to circumvent Syrian self-determination by the US, its allies, or any foreign powers with their own agendas to expand their power and territory. Solidarity with the people of Syria. May all oppressed people be free.
Tlaib said she was “praying for peace, stability, and justice for the Syrian people”:
May a post-Assad Syria be free from brutal dictatorship and be a safe haven for the millions of Syrians forced into exile. I am thinking of all those murdered, displaced, and imprisoned by Assad’s regime. Watching the images of Syrians being reunited with their family members brings me to tears.
Who are the main actors in the fall of the regime in Syria?
The rebel alliance that has brought about the fall of the Syrian regime includes groups with roots in Islamic extremism, Arab and Turkmen fighters, and Kurdish and Druze coalitions.
Here is a look at who are the main actors in the fall of the Syrian regime:
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS; Levant Liberation Union) is led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, and is the dominant faction in the rebel alliance which toppled the regime of Bashar al-Assad with a lightning offensive launched late last month from its stronghold in the north-west. The group has its origins in al-Qaida and Islamic State, and was formally founded in 2017 after breaking with both. HTS has since governed 2 million people in Idlib province, and evolved a more pragmatic ideology, many analysts say. Concerns remain about its extremist roots and the presence of veteran jihadist fighters among its forces.
The Syrian National Army (SNA) is a coalition based in northern Syria backed by Ankara. It was founded in 2017 and includes a diverse range of Arab and Turkmen groups and fighters, including some veterans from the very earliest days of the rebellion against the Assad regime. The SNA participated in the campaign against IS, but has also intensively battled the Kurdish forces in Syria. In recent days, the SNA has launched an offensive against Kurdish groups and has made gains around Manbij, a strategic northern town. Turkey wants to prevent Kurdish groups establishing a solid, contiguous presence on the Syrian side of its southern border and stabilise the zone to allow the return of refugees.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is a Kurdish dominated alliance that holds a vast swathe of territory in north-east Syria and is backed by the US. The SDF, which includes some Arab fighters, was founded in 2015 and did much of the hardest fighting against IS. Led by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), the SDF is viewed by Ankara as part of the broader Kurdish separatist movement that has fought a bloody nationalist campaign against Turkey for decades. Kurds make up sizeable minorities in Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey.
The Southern Operations Room is a newly formed coalition of rebel groups in southern and south-eastern Syria, drawn mainly from Druze communities and opposition groups. The region was an early stronghold of opposition to the Assad regime but suffered heavily from brutal repression. Fighters from the Southern Operations Room were the first to reach Damascus at the weekend.
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (Isis) has its origins in the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), which included many al-Qaida militants who fought against US-led and government forces there. The civil war in Syria opened up new opportunities, and eventually allowed the foundation of a “caliphate” by a breakaway group that by 2015 had amassed massive military and economic resources. Defeated by an international coalition including Syrian factions in a four-year campaign, the organisation has remained active, particularly in central Syria, and was targeted by US warplanes earlier this week.
You can read the full explainer here:
Updated
The White House said Joe Biden spoke to Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Monday, emphasizing his full support for a Syrian-led transition process under the auspices of the United Nations.
Biden and the king also discussed eastern Syria, including US airstrikes against Islamic State fighters. US forces conducted dozens of airstrikes, dropping about 140 munitions on about 75 targets, according to US Central Command.
In a readout from the call, the White House said the two leaders also discussed Gaza and the urgent need for a ceasefire there:
The President emphasized the support of the United States for the stability of Jordan and Jordan’s central role in maintaining stability and de-escalating tensions throughout the Middle East region.
The leaders also discussed the situation in Gaza and the urgent need to conclude the ceasefire and hostage release agreement together with a surge in humanitarian assistance for the people of Gaza.
They agreed to remain in regular contact directly and through their teams.
Hundreds of people flocked to Sednaya prison - the facility known locally as ‘the human slaughterhouse’ in an attempt to find a trace of their disappeared loved ones.
It was rumoured that 1,500 prisoners were still detained in hidden underground cells, after thousands of detainees were freed on Sunday.
The Syrian civil defence issued a statement that, despite an intensive search, no prisoners were found trapped underground.
Updated
Saudi Arabia believes Israel’s seizure of a buffer zone in Syria shows its will to “ruin Syria’s chance of restoring its security”, the kingdom’s foreign ministry said in a statement reported by Reuters on Monday.
Updated
The US government’s top hostage negotiator is in Beirut, according to the state department, to gather information on the whereabouts of Austin Tice, Reuters reports.
Tice, a former US Marine and freelance journalist from Houston, was abducted in August 2012 while reporting on the uprising against then-president Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, whose family’s more than 50-year autocracy was crushed as he fled to Russia.
According to data by the Committee to Protect Journalists, Tice is one of at least five journalists being held in Syria on undisclosed charges, and the only American.
The state department spokesman Matt Miller told reporters Monday that the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs is talking to officials in the region following the overthrow of Bashar Assad’s government to find out where Tice is and “get him home as soon as possible.”
Lebanon has been involved for years in mediating talks over Tice’s fate. US president Joe Biden said on Sunday that his administration believed Tice was alive, though he also acknowledged it had “no direct evidence” of that.
The White House is declaring the recovery of Tice a “top priority” in the wake of Syrian rebels running their autocratic head of state out of the country, according to national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
Updated
Here are a few of the latest images of the aftermath of the fall of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, and the wider Middle East crisis, sent to us over the news wires:
Military strikes in Syria 'limited and temporary', Israel tells UN
Israel launched a barrage of military strikes in numerous locations in Syria on Monday, including the destruction of dozens of planes, helicopters and other equipment at at least three Syrian army bases.
Qamishli air base in north east Syria, the Shinshar base in the countryside near Homs, and Aqrba airport south west of Damascus were all hit, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, a series of explosions was heard in various suburbs of Damascus, where Israel has been targeting facilities linked to Iranian and Syrian production of missiles and chemical weapons, and a center for electronic warfare in the Sayeda Zainab suburb.
In a letter to the 15-member United Nations security council, which was meeting Monday afternoon to discuss developments in Syria following Sunday’s toppling of president Bashar al-Assad, Israel insisted its actions were “limited and temporary measures” to protect its citizens, particularly in the Golan Heights that borders Syria.
“Israel is not intervening in the ongoing conflict between Syrian armed groups; our actions are solely focused on safeguarding our security,” Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, wrote.
Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, has been speaking at a financial conference in Washington DC about the need to prevent the terrorist Islamic State (Isis) group from capitalizing on the fall of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
A US-led coalition of nations destroyed the Isis caliphate in Syria and Iraq a decade ago, and Blinken pointed to US strikes in Syria over the weekend as evidence it would not tolerate a resurgence.
Blinken said:
Isis will try to use this period to reestablish its capabilities, to create safe havens. As our precision strikes over the weekend demonstrate, we are determined not to let that happen.
We have a clear interest in doing what we can to avoid the fragmentation of Syria, mass migrations from Syria and, of course, the export of terrorism and extremism.
Another US priority, Blinken said, was to ensure that stockpiles of chemical weapons or weapons of mass destruction in Syria “do not fall into the wrong hands”. He said the US had “clear and enduring interests” in Syria :
The region and the world have a responsibility to support the Syrian people as they begin to rebuild their country and chart a new direction.
Blinken said a US hostage envoy was in Beirut trying to secure the release of journalist Austin Tice, who was kidnapped in Syria in 2012.
Separately, the US has “communicated with groups in Syria, including through intermediaries” in recent days, Reuters reported.
Updated
Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel has no plans to end the war in Gaza imminently, despite apparent progress in efforts to free hostages still held by Hamas, and renewed talk of a ceasefire.
The Israeli prime minister gave the remarks at a press conference Monday evening, in which he indicated he wanted to see Hamas completely destroyed.
“If we end the war now, Hamas will return, recover, rebuild and attack us again - and that is what we do not want to go back to,” Netanyahu said, according to AFP.
Earlier Monday, Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Saar said the country had higher expectations of a hostage deal amid reports that Hamas had asked for lists of all hostages still held by militant groups in the Palestinian enclave.
The White House has released a lengthy transcript of a media teleconference that took place earlier, laying out some of the Biden administration’s positions on developments in Syria over the last few days.
The briefing was “on background”, a media term for information provided that can’t be attributable to any named individual. Consequently, the person speaking for the president is identified only as “a senior administration official”.
Here are some of the highlights:
The collapse of the Assad regime is “a momentous event… a historic landmark event [and] a fundamental act of justice”.
“It is impossible not to place this week’s events in the context of the decisions the president has made to fully back Israel against Iran and its proxy terrorist groups, including Hezbollah, and Ukraine against Russia. Hamas is on its back, Iran is on its back, Hezbollah is on its back, Russia is on its back.”
Rebuilding Syria post-Assad is “going to take an enormous effort from everybody” including rival rebel groups and international partners: “Syria is such a rich, diverse country, and there has to be a role for all minority groups, ethnic groups, and opposition groups need to work together, and commitment to the rule and everything else”.
The fall of Assad is “something that will affect Iranian calculations. Whether that is in the direction of diplomacy we’ll have to see. If they ever were to make another fateful decision, such as moving towards a nuclear weapon, the US will simply never allow that”.
The ruling Ba’ath party of Syria’s ex-president Bashar al-Assad says it will support the country’s transition following the rebel takeover, an indication that it will try to retain some power in the aftermath of the downfall of its leader.
In a statement reported by AFP, Ibrahim al-Hadid, the party’s general secretary, said: “We will remain supportive of a transitional phase in Syria aimed at defending the unity of the country.”
'At least two explosions' in Damascus: witnesses
At least two explosions have been heard in the Syrian capital Damascus, where the time is approaching 10pm on Monday. Reuters cited three witnesses in the city, who said the explosions were in Barzeh, near a Syrian government center linked to the production of chemical weapons.
The source of the explosions was not immediately clear.
On Sunday, Israel conducted three airstrikes in Damascus, against a security complex and a government research center which Israeli officials have said was used by Iran to develop missiles, two regional security sources told he news agency.
Separately, an Israeli strike targeted an air defense installation near Syria’s Mediterranean Latakia port on Monday, Syrian security sources said, according to the news agency.
Israel has ramped up raids against Iran-linked targets in Syria since the 7 October attacks by Hamas in Israeli territory in 2023 that sparked the Gaza war.
Updated
The head of the United Nations refugee program, Filippo Grandi, has called for patience as millions of Syrian refugees displaced by the 13-year civil war weigh a possible return to the country after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
“There is a remarkable opportunity for Syria to move toward peace and for its people to begin returning home,” Grandi said in a statement, reported by Reuters.
“But with the situation still uncertain, millions of refugees are carefully assessing how safe it is to do so. Some are eager, while others are hesitant.”
Grandi said there was a need for “patience and vigilance” as refugees consider their options.
Several European countries, including the UK, announced Monday they were putting asylum applications from Syrians on hold until further notice.
Scottish National Party MP Brendan O’Hara asked the foreign secretary about Israel seizing territory in demilitarised Syrian-controlled parts of the Golan Heights in the UK House of Commons just now. David Lammy dismissed the question as “simplistic”, adding that Israel has “legitimate security concerns particularly in the context of a country that has housed the Isis [the Islamic State], and al-Qaida and Daesh”.
Israel says it occupied the territory, which serves as a buffer zone between the two countries, following the breakdown of an agreement with the government of the ousted Syria leader Bashar al-Assad. Israel illegally occupied parts of the Golan Heights in 1967 and annexed those territories in 1981. The buffer zone seized by Israel lies adjacent to the territory it already occupied.
The UK considers the Golan Heights to be occupied territory, while the US, via a proclamation during the first administration of president-elect Donald Trump, consider it part of Israel.
Summary of the day so far
It is approaching 9pm in Damascus and Moscow, 8pm in Beirut, Tel Aviv and Gaza City, and 9.30pm in Tehran. Here are the headlines
The former Syrian prime minister Mohammed Ghazi al-Jalali has agreed to hand over power to the rebel “Salvation Government”, according to Al Arabiya TV in a development reported by Reuters.
Rebel forces in Syria have announced a general amnesty for all conscripted soldiers who served during the Assad regime. “The Military Operations Directorate announces a general amnesty for all conscripted soldiers serving under mandatory service. Their safety is guaranteed, and any harm or assault against them is strictly prohibited,” the rebel forces said in a message on their Telegram channel.
Three Israeli soldiers have been killed during fighting in the northern Gaza strip. The IDF has named them as Staff Sergeant Ido Zano, Staff Sergeant Daniel Barak Halpern, and Sergeant Omri Cohen. Alongside them, 12 IDF soldiers were wounded in the same incident, including two who were seriously wounded, Israeli media reported.
Turkey is opening its Yayladagi border gate with Syria to manage the safe and voluntary return of the millions of migrants it hosts, President Tayyip Erdoğan said on Monday, as hundreds gathered at border crossings.
The Biden administration has indicated it will be pragmatic about the realities on the ground in Syria as it weighs whether to delist the Syrian jihadi insurgent group that toppled Assad as a terror organisation. They are saying the “right things so far”, an official told AP.
It is “too early” to say whether the UK will strip the wife of Bashar al-Assad, Asma al-Assad, of her British citizenship, the prime minister, Keir Starmer, has said. The UK has also said it has yet make a decision on whether to unproscribe Hayat Tahrir al-Sham as a terrorist organisation.
The UK has paused decisions on Syrian asylum claims. Germany, France and other European nations have either agreed or are working on similar decisions.
Syrian Civil Defence (the White Helmets) are offering a $3,000 reward for information leading to the discovery of the Assad regime’s rumoured network of secret prisons in what the organisation believes is a race against time to find prisoners who may be trapped and abandoned by the sudden collapse of the regime.
Israel is now more optimistic about a possible hostage deal in Gaza, its foreign minister Gideon Saar said on Monday, amid reports that Hamas had asked for lists of all hostages still held by militant groups in the Palestinian enclave.
Events in Syria are a “major, dangerous and new transformation”, according to a senior Hezbollah politician on Monday, in what marked the Iran-backed Lebanon group’s first reaction to the toppling of its ally Bashar al-Assad.
Israeli forces have seized control of a previously demilitarised buffer zone in Syrian-controlled territory in the Golan Heights and attacked what it said were regime weapons depots with airstrikes.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said president Vladimir Putin personally approved the decision to grant Bashar al-Assad asylum in Russia. Peskov said it was “premature” to discuss the future of Russia’s military presence inside Syria
The Syrian embassy in Moscow was seen flying the three-starred flag of opposition to Assad’s fallen regime. Tass reported the embassy has had no contact with Assad
My colleague Richard Luscombe will pick up the blog from here.
Syria’s rebel command has said it would not tell women how to dress.
“It is strictly forbidden to interfere with women’s dress or impose any request related to their clothing or appearance, including requests for modesty,” the command said in a statement on social media.
UK pauses decisions on Syrian asylum claims
The UK has paused decisions on Syrian asylum claims while it assesses the current situation, after rebel forces seized the capital of Damascus over the weekend.
A Home Office spokesman said: “The Home Office has paused decisions on Syrian asylum claims whilst we assess the current situation.
“We keep all country guidance relating to asylum claims under constant review so we can respond to emerging issues.”
The UK’s decision comes after Germany, Austria and other European countries ordered a halt to asylum applications by Syrians after Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia following 13 years of civil war.
Most went to Turkey and other neighbouring nations but Syrians also made up a large proportion of the more than a million people who fled to Germany and Austria during the European migration crisis of 2015 and 2016.
In the UK, by the end of February 2021, more than 20,000 Syrian refugees had been resettled under a government scheme, according to the Refugee Council.
The United States has three primary interests in Syria: protecting US. soldiers and personnel, ensuring US allies are safe, and preventing a humanitarian catastrophe, the US deputy ambassador said ahead of an emergency UN Security Council meeting, according to the Associated Press.
The United States will work to try and ensure that “all of those things happen,” Robert Wood told reporters before Monday afternoon’s closed council meeting called by Russia.
He said another “high, high priority” for the US is to locate and free the missing American journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared 12 years ago near the Syrian capital. “We have reasons to believe that he still is [alive], but we have to see,” he said.
Wood called the situation in Syria “dynamic” following the rebel overthrow of Assad. The US will judge the insurgent force now in control of Syria, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS on “what actions they take.”
We reported earlier that rebel forces in Syria had announced a general amnesty for all conscripted soldiers serving under mandatory service in the now-ousted Syrian regime. There is a little more detail on what has been said.
“The Military Operations Directorate announces a general amnesty for all conscripted soldiers serving under mandatory service. Their safety is guaranteed, and any harm or assault against them is strictly prohibited,” the rebel forces said in a message on their Telegram channel.
Turkey is opening its Yayladagi border gate with Syria to manage the safe and voluntary return of the millions of Syrian migrants it hosts, President Tayyip Erdoğan said on Monday, adding Ankara was ready to support the country’s rebuilding in any way it can.
Speaking after a cabinet meeting in Ankara, Erdogan added that Turkey would not allow new terrorist elements to emerge on its borders.
'Too early' to say whether UK will strip Asma al-Assad of her British citizenship, Keir Starmer says
It is “too early” to say whether the UK will strip the wife of Bashar al-Assad, Asma al-Assad, of her British citizenship, the prime minister, Keir Starmer, has said. However, the UK has said it has yet make a decision on whether to unproscribe Hayat Tahrir al-Sham as a terrorist organisation and it will judge it on its actions.
Asked about the possibility of any such move against Asma al-Assad, Starmer told broadcasters: “We are far too early in any decisions about anything.”
The UK prime minister added: “At the moment we are hours, days into a fast-moving situation and that’s why it’s very important for us to continue to talk to our allies, including here in discussions I’ve been having today, to make sure that what happens next is peaceful.
“There’s a lot of moving parts in that, a lot of risks, I absolutely accept, and challenges, but they are going to be best met if we work with our allies towards that peaceful resolution and the rejection, the utter rejection, of terrorism and violence.”
On whether HTS, the leaders of the Syrian rebels who have swept through the country and toppled Assad, would be delisted as a terrorist organisation, the UK’s foreign minister, David Lammy, said: “HTS has offered reassurances to minorities in Aleppo, Hama and Damascus. They have also committed to cooperating with the international community over monitoring chemical weapons. We will judge HTS by their actions, monitoring closely how they and other parties to this conflict treat all civilians in areas they control.
“The UK and our allies have spent over a decade combating terrorism in Syria, Daesh remains one of the most significant terrorist threats to the UK our allies and our interests overseas, we take seriously our duty as government to protect the public from this and other terrorist threats.”
The founder of HTS, Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, was once a participant in the Iraqi insurgency against the US as a member of the group that eventually became Islamic State.
It is designated as a terrorist group by the US and there are serious human rights concerns in the area it controls, including executions for those accused of affiliation with rival groups and over allegations of blasphemy and adultery.
Updated
In the UK, the foreign secretary David Lammy has said the fall of the Assad regime in Syria was a “humiliation for Russia and Iran.”
According to PA Media, he said the UK Government has “long hoped” to see Bashar al-Assad gone, telling MPs: “We welcome the opportunity this brings the people of Syria.
“Assad’s demise is not just a humiliation to him and his henchman, it is a humiliation for Russia and Iran. Iran’s so-called axis of resistance is crumbling before our eyes.”
Lammy said Vladimir Putin has attempted to “prop up Assad for more than a decade”, adding: “All that he’s got for this is a fallen dictator, filing for asylum in Moscow.
“He says he wants to return to Russia to its imperial glory, but after more than 1,000 days he has not subjugated Ukraine. Putin’s fake empire stops short just a few miles out of Donetsk.”
The situation in Syria could see a “flow” of people using “dangerous illegal migration routes” to Europe and the UK, he added.
“Assad’s demise brings no guarantee of peace. This is a moment of danger as well as opportunity for Syrians and for the region. The humanitarian situation in Syria is dire, with almost 17 million people in need. Millions are refugees, largely still in neighbouring Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.
“Seeing so many start to return to Syria is a positive sign for their hopes for a better future now that Assad is gone, but a lot depends on what happens now, this flow into Syria could quickly become a flow back out and potentially increase the numbers using dangerous illegal migration routes to continental Europe and the United Kingdom.”
Syria's prime minister Mohammed Ghazi al-Jalali agrees to hand over power to rebel forces
The former Syrian prime minister Mohammed Ghazi al-Jalali has agreed to hand over power to the rebel “Salvation Government”, according to Al Arabiya TV in a development reported by Reuters.
On Sunday, the head of HTS, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who spearheaded the rebel offensive, said al-Jalali, would stay on in Damascus to lead a transitional government in the coming months however, he has now said he will hand over power.
Updated
Assad is the 'rat of Damascus', who fled to Moscow with 'tail between his legs', UK's foreign minister says
Bashar al-Assad is the “rat of Damascus” who fled to Moscow “with his tail between his legs”, according to the UK’s foreign minister.
David Lammy, making a statement to the British houses of parliament, said the UK Government had chosen not to reengage with Syria under Assad’s rule as the former president was a “monster”.
He told MPs: “We said no because Assad was a dictator, whose sole interest was his wealth and his power. And we said no because Assad is a criminal who defied all laws and norms to use chemical weapons against the Syrian people.
“We said no because Assad is a butcher with the blood of countless innocents on his hands and we said no because Assad was a drug dealer.”
Lammy added the UK Government knew Assad was “never, ever going to change”, telling MPs: “There were those who used to call Assad the lion of Damascus. Now we see the reality: Assad is the rat of Damascus, fleeing to Moscow with his tail between his legs. How fitting he should end up there.”
Turkish president accuses Assad of 'running away and leaving Syria in rubble'
Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has accused Bashar al-Assad of ‘running away and leaving Syria in rubble’ following the former leader’s downfall and Kremlin-sanctioned escape to Russia.
Erdoğan said he believed a “dark period” in Syria has ended and a period of light has bgeun.
Erdoğan said he believed the “wind of change in Syria will be beneficial for Syrian people” and added that “safe and voluntary returns will incrase as stability is achieved.” Turkey is thought to be home to 3.2 million Syrian refugees, according to the UN Refugee Agency.
Patrick Wintour is the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, and offers this analysis:
The fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, the latest in a string of foreign policy reversals for Iran including the weakening of its allies in Lebanon and Gaza, has coincided with growing domestic frustration over rising executions, planned increases in the price of petrol and a proposed law that imposes heavy fines and loss of access to public services to any woman not wearing the hijab.
The confluence of events is putting unprecedented pressure on Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, to demonstrate what reforms he has introduced since being elected in June. He is viewed domestically as a consensual figure and faces a conservative parliament, but his supporters are impatient for changes that will lift the economy.
Human rights groups say the number of executions in Iran in 2024 has reached 798, with 144 carried out in November alone.
At the same time, the announcement that a compulsory hijab bill has completed all its legal stages and will be implemented within a fortnight has prompted a storm of criticism, and hints of a last-minute delay.
One of the leaders of Iran’s Green protest movement, Zahra Rahnavard, warned that the new law – confirmed by the Guardian Council and the parliament – and scheduled to come into force within a fortnight, could be a flashpoint of resistance against the government. She said she had advised Iran’s rulers “not to go to war with women”.
Read more of Patrick Wintour’s analysis here: Domestic issues pile pressure on Iran’s president amid foreign policy setbacks
Three Israeli soldiers killed during fighting in northern Gaza Strip
We reported earlier on the death of three Israeli soldiers in fighting in northern Gaza. The IDF has named them as Staff Sergeant Ido Zano, Staff Sergeant Daniel Barak Halpern, and Sergeant Omri Cohen.
Alongside them, 12 soldiers were wounded in the same incident, including two who were seriously wounded, Israeli media reported.
According to the IDF’s tally, the deaths of SSgt Zano, SSgt Halpern and Sgt Cohen takes the total number of soldiers killed on or since 7 October 2023 to 816.
Earlier, the Gaza health ministry said a total of 44,758 Palestinians have been killed since 7 October last year.
Updated
Inside the desperate search for relatives in the notorious Sednaya prison
Families have been desperately searching the filthy cells of Syria’s Sednaya prison for long-detained relatives after its gates were flung open by rebels.
Thousands of prisoners spilled out of president Bashar al-Assad’s detention system after he was toppled on Sunday, sometimes to tearful reunions with relatives who believed they had been executed years earlier.
But countless families are still trawling dark corridors and hidden cells in the labyrinthine complex for traces of loved ones detained for attending protests, defying authorities or simply voicing discontent.
The Guardian’s William Christou is one of a very few journalists to have accessed the forbidding prison and reports on the scenes inside:
Rebel fighters tried to stop people from entering the prison itself, firing rounds in the air – but the crowd surged forward undeterred.
Inside, people roved about the labyrinthine facility, moving from cell to cell, searching for any clue that could tell them where their relatives and friends might be. They were racing to locate the hidden underground wing – which they called the “red wing” – amid fears prisoners were starving without food and asphyxiating from lack of air.
“There are three in my family missing. They told us that there are four levels underground, and that people are choking inside – but we don’t know where it is,” said Ahmad al-Shnein as he searched the prison corridor.
“The ones that emerged from here looked like skeletons. So imagine how those underground will look,” Shnein said.
The prison was seemingly built to induce a sense of placeless-ness. At its centre is a spiral staircase that from the ground floor appears endless. The staircase is ringed by metal bars and, beyond them, large identical vault doors, through which lie the facility’s three wings. According to the rebel fighters, each wing specialised in a different form of torture. There are no windows to the outside world.
Updated
The Israeli military said on Monday that three soldiers were killed “during combat” in the northern Gaza Strip.
More to follow …
Updated
Qatar has condemned the Israeli seizure of the buffer zone and sites on the border with Syria. In a statement the foreign ministry said this is “a dangerous development”.
Earlier, Egypt also condemned what it called Israel’s “further occupation of Syrian lands”.
Israel moved tanks over the border into the buffer zone with Syria, calling the move temporary and limited and aimed at ensuring Israel’s security. Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Saar claimed “the only interest we have is the security of Israel and its citizens”.
The downfall of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, found to have used chemical weapons against his own people on multiple occasions during the civil war, creates an opportunity to rid the country of banned munitions, diplomatic sources have told Reuters.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said it was following the situation in Syria with “special attention” to chemical weapons-related sites and had reminded Syria, through its embassy, of its continued obligation to declare and destroy all banned chemical weapons.
A team at OPCW has spent more than a decade trying to clarify what types of chemical weapons Syria still possesses, but has made little progress due to obstruction by Assad’s government, it said.
“To date, this work has continued, and the Syrian declaration of its chemical weapons programme still cannot be considered as accurate and complete,” the OPCW statement said.
Assad’s government and its Russian allies always denied using chemical weapons against opponents in the civil war, which erupted in March 2011.
Three investigations - a joint UN-OPCW mechanism, the OPCW’s Investigation and Identification team, and a UN war crimes investigation - concluded that Syrian government forces used the nerve agent sarin and chlorine barrel bombs in attacks during the civil war that killed or injured thousands.
A French court issued an arrest warrant for Assad which was upheld on appeal over the use of banned chemical weapons against civilians.
France to suspend asylum applications for Syrians
The French government is working on a suspension of current asylum cases from Syria after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad, the interior ministry said, adding that a decision on the matter would likely be reached within the next few hours, according to reports on Reuters.
Paris is working on a solution similar to the one put forward by Germany which earlier said it would put asylum applications on hold, the French foreign ministry said. Other European Union countries have done the same.
Thousands of prisoners have been released from Syrian government prisons after rebels forced the fall of Assad in a stunning offensive. One of the first actions rebels took in newly captured cities was to release detainees from government detention centres. Videos showed stunned-looking people emerging from prisons, where joyous crowds awaited them.
Syrians prisons, where an estimated 136,000 people were detained up until this week, are to many emblematic of the government repression that earned Syria the title of the “Kingdom of Silence”. Thousands of protesters were arrested during the revolution for speaking out against the government.
On Saturday, William Christou detailed some of the stories of those who had been detainer. And now pictures are emerging of long-incarcerated prisoners meeting family members after years locked up.
Suhail al-Hamwi, below, was one who was able to hug his grandchildren in the coastal town of Chekka in northern Lebanon on Monday after spending 33 years in a Syrian prison.
Syrian rebels grant amnesty to all personnel conscripted into army during Assad's rule
Syrian rebels have granted amnesty to all military personnel conscripted into service during ousted President Bashar al-Assad’s rule, they said on Monday on their Telegram channel.
More details on this to follow …
Hundreds of Syrian refugees have gathered at two border crossings in southern Turkey by Monday, eagerly anticipating their return after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government.
Many arrived at the Cilvegözü and Öncüpınar border gates at daybreak, draped in blankets and coats.
UK to play 'more present and consistent role' in Middle East, Keir Starmer says
The UK has pledged to step up its engagement in the Middle East to support long-term stability and will “play a more present and consistent role in the region”, the government said on Monday.
“The stability of the Middle East is paramount to delivering a foundation of security at home,” said the prime minister Keir Starmer during a visit to the UAE.
“The prime minister said the UK will play a more present and consistent role in the region, and work with partners to increase defence cooperation to strengthen deterrence of threats across land, sea, space, air and cyber.”
Starmer also set out an additional £11m ($14.07m) of humanitarian aid for Syria, and agreed to bolster the existing defence partnership between Britain and Saudi Arabia and promote greater defence industrial cooperation.
Updated
The Biden administration has indicated it is looking to be pragmatic about the realities on the ground in Syria as it weighs whether to delist the Syrian jihadi insurgent group that toppled President Bashar al-Assad as a terror organisation, according to two senior administration officials who briefed the Associated Press news agency.
One of the officials noted that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, is “saying the right things so far and they’re doing the right things so far” but also noted that it is just one of several groups that are looking to be part of the post-Assad transition in Syria.
The official stressed that HTS will be an “important component” in what transpires in Syria and that the US needs to “engage with them, appropriately, and with US interests in mind.”
The second official said that the administration remains in a “wait and see” mode on whether to remove the HTS designation and has not set a timeline on whether to take action.
Here are some images of people gathered at the Arida Lebanese-Syrian border crossing. The crossing was recently hit by an Israeli airstrike.
Reuters reports that Greece has joined Austria in pausing the processing of asylum claims for refugees from Syria. It cited a senior Greek official.
At the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir el-Balah in the Gaza Strip, people have been preparing to bury the bodies of the four children, who according to the Palestinian ministry of health in Gaza, were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the al Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza.
Conflict continued in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Monday. Palestinian police reported that five people were wounded in a car explosion near the police station in Jenin.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that two people were killed after Israeli security forces raided Tubas. A correspondent for Wafa reported that two people were targeted by drones, and that Israeli security forces prevented medical crews from reaching them. It was also reported that Israeli forces opened fire on a media crew in Tubas documenting the raid.
In a statement, Israel’s military has claimed it was carrying out “counter-terrorism activity in Tubas”, and that it eliminated “several armed individuals.”
Nato secretary general Mark Rutte has said it is “a moment of joy but also uncertainty for the people of Syria and the region.”
In a statement, Rutte, who took the helm of Nato in October, said “We hope for a peaceful transition of power and an inclusive Syrian-led political process.”
Reuters reports he added that Russia and Iran shared responsibility for crimes committed against the Syrian people by the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
Here are some of the latest images sent over the news wires of food being distributed to displaced people in Gaza.
Austria’s caretaker government said on Monday it had ordered a halt to the processing of asylum applications by Syrians, Reuters reports.
Hamas has released a statement congratulating the rebels in Syria and the Syrian people. In the message posted to Telegram it congratulated the “Syrian people on their success in achieving their aspirations for freedom and justice”.
The belated nature of the statement is likely due to the complex relationship between Hamas and Syria. After the militant group was evicted from Jordan in the late 1990s they found a home in Damascus in the early 2000s, but in 2012, they declared their support for protests against Bashar al-Assad.
Hamas eventually patched up relations with Damascus. A few days ago a Hamas official told Newsweek that the group was neutral on the rebel advance saying: “This is not our battle.” He added: “Our battle is with the Zionist occupation, and our first goal is to liberate our country from colonialism.”
Reuters has a quick snap that US national security adviser Jake Sullivan is expected to visit Israel on Thursday to discuss Syria and Gaza.
Sullivan is expected to be replaced by Michael Waltz when Donald Trump takes office in January.
Julian Borger is the Guardian’s senior international correspondent
Syrian Civil Defence (the White Helmets) are offering a $3,000 reward for information leading to the discovery of the Assad regime’s rumoured network of secret prisons in what the organisation believes is a race against time to find prisoners who may be trapped and abandoned by the sudden collapse of the regime.
They are guaranteeing anonymity to former members of the secret police or other parts of the security establishment who supply accurate information. The risk the White Helmets run is that the offer of financial rewards could just serve to thicken the swirl of rumour around the existence of hidden prison sites.
"We extend a special invitation to former security officers and those working in the security branches to help in accessing these secret prisons, as we emphasise the importance and necessity of this contribution, and we guarantee to them that we will maintain the confidentiality of the sources,” the statement said.
It added an appeal to desperate families to show restraint and not damage potential evidence in their hunt for hidden cells, in the interests of bringing future cases against the regime for atrocities and crimes against humanity.
“We express our full solidarity with the families and relatives of the victims and fully understand their feelings of waiting for their loved ones and children, but we appeal to them to be patient and not to dig in the prisons or tamper with them because this leads to the destruction of physical evidence that may be essential to revealing the facts and supporting the efforts of justice and accountability, and we assure them that our specialised teams are ready to deal with any prison in which they expect to find detainees.”
Israel 'more optimistic' about a hostage return deal in Gaza, foreign minister says
Israel is now more optimistic about a possible hostage deal in Gaza, its foreign minister Gideon Saar said on Monday, amid reports that Hamas had asked for lists of all hostages still held by militant groups in the Palestinian enclave.
He said indirect negotiations were under way about the return of about 100 hostages and that, while it was still too early to be sure, prospects had improved.
“We can be more optimistic than before but we are not there yet. I hope we will be there,” Saar told a press conference in Jerusalem reported on by the Reuters news agency. He reiterated Israel’s position that the hostages still held in Gaza must be returned before Israel agrees to an end to the fighting.
“There will not be a ceasefire in Gaza without a hostage deal,” he said.
A Palestinian official with knowledge of the mediation effort said Hamas had asked other factions in Gaza to start listing the names of Israeli and foreign hostages in their custody, whether dead or alive.
The official gave no further details of the mediation effort but said the mediators, backed by the United States, had stepped up contacts with Israel and Hamas.
Hamas officials declined immediate comment.
An official of a militant group allied with Hamas expressed hope that talks could lead to a deal.
Syrians entered the presidential palace in Damascus to loot Bashar al-Assad’s belongings, and were seen taking items such as Louis Vuitton boxes, art and furniture. Footage showed people discovering a fleet of luxury cars belonging to the former president. What was thought to be a secret bunker was also found beneath the palace, with empty boxes indicating it contained valuable items before its discovery.
Syria’s central and commercial banks will resume operations on Tuesday and staff were asked to come in to work, a central bank source and two commercial bankers told Reuters on Monday.
The deposits of Syrian citizens in functioning Syrian banks are safe, Syria’s Central Bank said earlier in a Facebook post.
Crowds in Syria have been celebrating the end of five decades of dynastic rule following the fall of the dictator Bashar al-Assad who has fled to Moscow.
Our community team would like to hear from Syrians living across the world and what the fall of Assad means to them. How have you, your friends and family been affected by the regime change? If you are a refugee are you planning to return? We’re also interested in hearing from those living in Syria and their experience.
Please get in touch via the link below
There has been a cascade of emotions among Syrians following the fall of Bashar al-Assad, prompting thousands of people to gather in public squares both within Syria and around the world. Reuters has been broadcasting a live feed from Damascus’ Umayyad Square, where there are still large crowds near the Damascene Sword monument and heavy traffic. Despite rebel leaders prohibiting gunfire in the city, people are still shooting celebratory salvos into the air.
Peter Beaumont is a senior international reporter for the Guardian who has reported extensively from conflict zones. This is his latest wrap on the situation in Syria
Bombing raids have hit sites across Syria as regional actors in the Middle East scrambled to defend their interests in Syria after the sudden fall of the country’s dictator, Bashar al-Assad, who fled to Moscow on Sunday.
As rebels led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) freed regime prisoners, including from the notorious Sednaya jail – often referred to as the “human slaughterhouse” – in joyous scenes, Israel, Turkey and the US carried out military action as Assad’s former backers in Russia and Iran also engaged in efforts to shape a future Syria.
The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, confirmed on Monday that Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, had personally granted asylum to Assad. He refused to comment on Assad’s specific whereabouts and said Putin was not planning to meet him.
The US has struck targets associated with Islamic State in central Syria, while Turkey has attacked US-backed Kurdish forces.
Israel also confirmed that it had sent forces into the buffer zone beyond the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and into former Syrian military positions on Mount Hermon in what it described as a “temporary measure”. It said it would continue with airstrikes on former regime sites associated with missiles and chemical weapons.
A total of 44,758 Palestinians have been killed and 106,134 injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, 2023, the Gaza health ministry has said in its latest daily update on the death toll in its territory.
UK calls on all sides in Syria to protect civilians and ensure essential aid reaches people
The UK has called on “all sides” in Syria to “protect civilians” and ensure “essential aid” can reach people.
The prime minister’s spokesperson said on Monday: “As the prime minister said, the Syrian people have had to put up with Assad’s brutal regime for far too long.
“It took countless lives, spread instability across the region and led to horrendous suffering amongst the Syrian people.
“Our focus now is ensuring a political solution prevails and peace and stability is restored in Syria, we call on all sides to protect civilians and ensure essential aid can reach the most vulnerable in the coming hours and days.”
The UK’s focus when it comes to Syria is “dialogue with regional allies to reach a political settlement”, Downing Street added. “We’re monitoring the situation closely as it evolves.”
The United Arab Emirates has called on “all Syrian parties” to “prioritise wisdom” and says it is closely monitoring the ongoing developments in Syria.
“The UAE foreign ministry calls on all Syrian parties to prioritise wisdom during this critical juncture in Syria’s history,” foreign ministry official Afra Al Hameli said on X.
The British prime minister Keir Starmer is in the UAE and overnight welcomed the end of Bashar al-Assad’s “barbaric regime”, saying it was “early days” in deciding how Britain would choose to engage with those who have overthrown him.
Starmer said: “We do need a political solution, and that’s what we are talking to regional allies about. It is a good thing that Assad has gone, a very good thing for the Syrian people.”
Egypt has condemned what it calls Israel’s “further occupation of Syrian lands”.
A statement from Egypt’s foreign ministry reported by Reuters says it views the Israeli military’s movement into a buffer zone as an attempt to enforce a new reality on the ground.
Israel moved tanks over the border into the buffer zone with Syria, calling the move temporary and limited and aimed at ensuring Israel’s security. Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Saar claimed “the only interest we have is the security of Israel and its citizens”.
Events in Syria a 'major, dangerous and new transformation,' senior Hezbollah politician says
Events in Syria are a “major, dangerous and new transformation”, according to a senior Hezbollah politician on Monday, in what marked the Iran-backed Lebanon group’s first reaction to the toppling of its ally Bashar al-Assad.
Hezbollah played a major part propping up Assad before bringing its fighters back to Lebanon over the last year to fight Israel - a redeployment which weakened Syrian government lines.
His downfall has stripped Hezbollah of an ally along Lebanon’s eastern border. Assad-ruled Syria long served as a vital conduit for Iran to supply weapons to the Shi’ite Islamist Hezbollah, Reuters reports.
“What is happening in Syria is a major, dangerous and new transformation, and how and why what happened requires an evaluation, and the evaluation is not done on the podiums,” Hezbollah politician Hassan Fadlallah said in a statement.
Summary of the day so far …
It is approaching 2pm in Beirut, Tel Aviv and Gaza City, 3pm in Damascus and Moscow, and 3.30pm in Tehran. Here are the headlines …
Israel has said it has carried out airstrikes on “strategic weapons systems” inside Syria and that ground troop operations on Syrian territory were a “limited, temporary” step. Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Saar claimed “the only interest we have is the security of Israel and its citizens”
Israel’s military issued photographs of IDF troops operating in the region of Mount Hermon, which is to the north-east of the Golan Heights, disputed territory which Israel seized from Syria in 1967 and unilaterally annexed in 1981
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said president Vladimir Putin personally approved the decision to grant Bashar al-Assad asylum in Russia. Peskov said it was “premature” to discuss the future of Russia’s military presence inside Syria
The Syrian embassy in Moscow was seen flying the three-starred flag of opposition to Assad’s fallen regime. Tass reported the embassy has had no contact with Assad
Iran has opened a direct line of communication with members of Syria’s new leadership, a senior Iranian official has told Reuters, in an attempt to “prevent a hostile trajectory” between the countries. “This engagement is key to stabilise ties and avoiding further regional tensions,” the news agency said an official told it
UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, has called for “accountability for perpetrators of serious violations” inside Syria under the Assad regime
Acting French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said the country would shortly send a special diplomatic envoy to Damascus
A senior minister in the UK indicated the country might reconsider the proscribed terrorist status of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamist rebel group which led the charge into Damascus. The UK government outlawed it in 2017 as an alternative name for al-Qaida
Israel announced on Monday that four of its soldiers were killed the previous day in what was described as a suspected operational accident inside southern Lebanon
Lebanon’s National News Agency reports that an Israeli strike on a vehicle in Bint Jbeil killed one person and injured two soldiers at an army checkpoint
A number of people have been killed by Israeli strikes on Jabalia camp in the north of the Gaza Strip on Monday, local media reports
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that one of its correspondents and a photographer were injured in an assault by Israeli security forces in the village of Al-Walaja, northwest of Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank
Yavne, which is on the coast of southern Israel, to the north of Ashdod and the Gaza Strip, has reportedly been hit by a drone originating from Yemen. Israel’s military is reviewing the incident
Qatar expects to decide in the next few days whether to ask senior US, Israeli and Egyptian intelligence figures to travel to Doha to negotiate the final stages of a Gaza ceasefire deal. Qatar pulled back from the mediation process last month saying it felt the talks were not being conducted in good faith
Israeli media is reporting the outline of a proposed deal for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Jack Khoury writes for Haaretz that the proposal appears to entail a week of ceasefire, followed by the release of Israeli hostages being held captive in Gaza by Hamas and other groups, and the IDF withdrawing from the Rafah border crossing area.
The latter has consistently appeared to be a sticking point, with Benjamin Netanyahu insisting that Israel should retain control of the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, and the Egyptian position seemingly being that this was unacceptable. For their part, Hamas have consistently demanded a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip before hostages would be released.
The Guardian’s diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour earlier reported that Qatar is weighing up whether to restart brokering negotiations.
A number of people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Jabalia camp in the north of the Gaza Strip on Monday, local media reports.
Wafa said Israeli forces “bombed a school sheltering displaced people” in the camp, while in another strike “occupation forces bombed a residential area near al-Maqadma Mosque in the vicinity of Kamal Adwan hospital.”
Al Jazeera, which has been banned from operating inside Israel by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, put the number of dead at 22.
Its correspondent Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said the victims of one strike “were trying to leave their home in search of food in the vicinity of their neighbourhood when they were targeted by a drone.”
She added “They were killed right away. Their bodies are still in the street and nobody has the ability to get to the bombed site and remove the bodies from the street.”
UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, has called for “accountability for perpetrators of serious violations” inside Syria under the Bashar al-Assad regime, Reuters reports.
It quotes Türk saying:
Any political transition must ensure accountability for perpetrators of serious violations, and guarantee that those responsible are held to account.
What needs to happen in Syria itself is to build up a domestic legal system that allows for fair trials, in relation to all those where there are serious grounds to believe that they have committed atrocity crimes. And that goes also for the former president of Syria and whoever was in senior leadership positions.
Tass reports that the Syrian embassy in Moscow, where an opposition flag to Bashar al-Assad’s toppled regime was hoisted earlier this morning, has told the Russian news agency that it is “awaiting instructions” from a new government in Damascus.
Tass reports that there has been no contact between the embassy and Assad, who has been granted asylum in Russia by Vladimir Putin.
William Christou reports for the Guardian from Sednaya:
Cars raced towards Sednaya prison, locally known as “the human slaughterhouse,” the most notorious torture complex of the Syrian government’s vast network of detention centres. The Guardian followed as traffic came to a standstill and rumours were passed between lowered windows: there were 1,500 prisoners trapped underground that needed rescuing; perhaps your loved ones are among them. Cars were ditched by the roadside and people began to walk.
A procession lit by thousands of phone torches streamed through the prison complex gates, which until rebels took control of the facility earlier on Sunday, had guaranteed entry but not exit. Families huddled around fires in the prison ground to keep warm, while keeping an eye on the prison doors to see if they could recognise any faces coming out.
Rebel fighters tried to stop people from entering the prison itself, firing rounds in the air – but the crowd surged forward undeterred.
Inside, people roved about the labyrinthine facility, moving from cell to cell, searching for any clue that could them tell them where their relatives and friends might be. They were racing to locate the hidden underground wing – which they called the “red wing” – amid fears prisoners were starving without food and asphyxiating from lack of air.
Read more from William Christou’s report here: Inside the hunt for hidden cells in Sednaya prison, Syria’s ‘human slaughterhouse’
After Syrian rebels led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham captured Damascus, William Christou, reporting for the Guardian, had a first-hand look at the flood of people desperate to find disappeared family members in one of Syria’s most notorious prisons – Sednaya.
Israeli media is carrying more details about the deaths of four Israeli soldiers inside Lebanon, which it invaded at the beginning of October.
The Times of Israel reports the four men were killed on Sunday during “a suspected operational accident”, writing:
According to an initial IDF probe, the soldiers were scanning a tunnel in the Labbouneh area of southern Lebanon when a cache of Hezbollah weapons and explosives stored there detonated.
The cause of the blast is under further investigation, though the military suspects that it was not a Hezbollah booby trap, but rather due to explosives previously placed by Israeli forces there.
Patrick Wintour, the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, reports from Doha:
Qatar expects to decide in the next few days whether to ask senior US, Israeli and Egyptian intelligence figures to travel to Doha to negotiate the final stages of a Gaza ceasefire deal.
The Gulf state was asked by Donald Trump’s transition team to re-engage with the mediation after discussions with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyau, led to a belief that a deal that had been stalled for months was now in reach.
Separately Egypt has held talks with Hamas leaders and discussed an exchange of Palestinian political prisoners and Israeli hostages, including some US-Israeli dual citizens.
Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Majed bin Mohammed al-Ansari, said it would make a decision on inviting senior negotiators to Doha this week after assessing whether “we have something robust”.
Qatar pulled back from the mediation process last month saying it felt the talks were not being conducted in good faith.
Read more of Patrick Wintour’s report from Doha here: Qatar to decide on restarting Gaza ceasefire talks
Israel’s military said on Monday four of its soldiers had been killed in fighting in southern Lebanon.
The IDF gave no further details beyond the fact that the four members of its forces “fell during combat in southern Lebanon.”
It did not specify when the deaths occurred.
Under terms of the ceasefire agreement with Lebanon reached in November, Israel is to withdraw its forces from inside southern Lebanon, which it invaded at the beginning of October. The IDF claimed to be targeting Hezbollah infrastructure used to fire rockets into northern Israel.
Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, has said his country will work to return refugees to Syria, after the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime.
Reuters quotes Fidan, speaking in Ankara, saying:
In the coming period, we want a Syria where different ethnic and religious groups live in an inclusive understanding of governance and in peace. We want to see a new Syria that has ties with its neighbours, that adds peace and stability to its region. We will continue our work to ensure the safe and voluntary return of Syrians and for the country’s reconstruction.
Turkey has backed rebel Syrian militias known as the Syrian National Army, and has a longstanding conflict with Kurdish separatist forces based in the north of Syria. Turkish officials have strongly rejected claims of any involvement in the recent offensive that led to the deposing of Assad.
During his regular morning media briefing, as well as saying that it had been Vladimir Putin who had approved asylum for Bashar al-Assad in Russia, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was also asked about the continued presence of Russian military resources inside Syria.
Peskov said it was “premature” to talk about the future of the bases in Khmeimim and Tartus. Tass reported that Peskov said it would be “a subject for discussion with those who will lead Syria.”
Israel strikes at 'strategic weapons systems' in Syria as Kremlin says Putin personally authorised Assad asylum
Israel has said it has carried out airstrikes on “strategic weapons systems” inside Syria and that ground troop operations on Syrian territory were a “limited, temporary” step, as the Kremlin said it had been Vladimir Putin’s personal decision to grant Bashar al-Assad asylum there.
Speaking in Jerusalem, Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Saar said “the only interest we have is the security of Israel and its citizens … that’s why we attacked strategic weapons systems, like, for example, remaining chemical weapons, or long-range missiles and rockets, in order that they will not fall in the hands of extremists.”
Earlier Israel’s military issued photographs of IDF troops operating in the region of Mount Hermon, which is to the north-east of the Golan Heights, disputed territory which Israel seized from Syria in 1967 and unilaterally annexed in 1981.
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia’s president had made the decision to grant asylum to Assad and his family, but there were no plans as yet for the two to meet.
The Syrian embassy in Russia’s capital was seen flying the three-starred flag of opposition to Assad’s fallen regime.
Senior officials from Iran told Reuters that the country had opened direct communications with the leaders who overthrew Assad, saying “engagement is key to stabilise ties and avoiding further regional tensions.”
A senior minister in the UK indicated the country might reconsider the proscribed terrorist status of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamist rebel group which led the charge into Damascus. The UK government outlawed it in 2017 as an alternative name for al-Qaida.
Acting French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said the country would shortly send a special diplomatic envoy to Damascus.
Iran has opened a direct line of communication with members of Syria’s new leadership, a senior Iranian official has told Reuters, in an attempt to “prevent a hostile trajectory” between the countries.
“This engagement is key to stabilise ties and avoiding further regional tensions,” the news agency said an official told it.
Syria’s embassy in Moscow has begun flying the three-starred flag of the opposition to Bashar al-Assad’s fallen regime.
Yavne, which is on the coast of southern Israel, to the north of Ashdod and the Gaza Strip, has reportedly been hit by a drone.
In a statement Israel’s military initially said “reports were received regarding a suspicious aerial target that fell in the area of Yavne. No sirens were sounded.”
It later added, via its official Telegram channel, that “a UAV that likely originated in Yemen impacted in the area of Yavne. As of now, no injuries were reported.”
The IDF said the incident is under review.
This image, sent over the news wires, shows people queueing in Turkey to enter Syria on Monday morning.
Israel's foreign minister: strikes inside Syria aimed at 'strategic weapons systems'
In a press briefing in Jerusalem, Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Saar has described his country’s invasion of Syria as a “limited, temporary” step and said the airstrikes conducted by the IDF had been aimed at “strategic weapons systems.”
Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and unilaterally annexed them in 1981. Earlier today Israel’s military issued photographs of IDF troops operating further inside Syrian territory, in the region of Mount Hermon.
The Times of Israel reports that Saar said, after Israel targeted sites inside Syria with airstrikes, “the only interest we have is the security of Israel and its citizens … that’s why we attacked strategic weapons systems, like, for example, remaining chemical weapons, or long-range missiles and rockets, in order that they will not fall in the hands of extremists.”
Reuters reports that Jean-Noël Barrot, who continues to act as France’s foreign minister while the country assembles a new government, has said on the radio that the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria was a stunning defeat for Russia, and said France will shortly send a special diplomatic envoy to Damascus.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that one of its correspondents and a photographer were injured in an assault by Israeli security forces in the village of Al-Walaja, northwest of Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, while the Israeli security forces were carrying out the demolition of two Palestinian homes.
Lebanon’s National News Agency reports that an Israeli strike on a vehicle in Bint Jbeil killed one person and injured two soldiers at an army checkpoint.
More details soon …
Israeli media reports that defense minister Israel Katz has ordered the Israeli military to strike at targets inside Syria including “surface-to-air missiles, air defence systems, surface-to-surface missiles, cruise missiles, long-range rockets, and coast-to-sea missiles.”
In a statement the recently appointed minister said he had ordered the military to create a “security zone free of heavy strategic weapons and terror infrastructure.”
Speaking on Sky News in the UK this morning, senior minister Pat McFadden has suggested that the country may consider changing the status of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which the UK currently designates as a proscribed terror group.
Reuters reports he told viewers “We will consider that. And I think it will partly depend on what happens.”
The British government proscribed Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in May 2017 as an alternative name for al-Qaida.
This morning our First Edition newsletter poses the question what next for Syria. My colleague Archie Bland writes:
However jubilant Syrians are today about the end of a dark chapter of their history, they know that the next is yet to be written. Because of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s (HTS) past relationship with al-Qaida and the human rights abuses carried out in the areas that it has ruled, many are sceptical that it will act as the guarantor of a transition to a pluralist and democratic state. And HTS chief Abu Mohammed al-Jolani himself is viewed as a terrorist by the US and others.
But some say there are reasons to be hopeful. Dareen Khalifa, a Syria expert at Crisis Group, wrote on X last week that HTS leadership had told her they were considering dissolving the group “to enable full consolidation of civilian and military structures in new institutions reflecting the breadth of Syrian society”.
Fears of reprisals came through clearly in coverage from the historically pro-government al-Watan newspaper, which hailed “a new page for Syria” and said the media should not be blamed because it “only carried out instructions”.
But on Sunday, in what appeared to be coordinated statements, Syria’s prime minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali said that he was at his home and promised to cooperate with “any leadership chosen by the Syrian people”, while rebel leaders said that public institutions remained under the supervision of the “former prime minister”. Jolani, meanwhile, said that his fighters should not harm “those who drop their weapons” and assured women and Christians that he does not intend to impose strict Islamic law.
Whether HTS maintains that approach or is able to prevail on other factions to do the same “remains to be seen,” Khalifa wrote. “Given their history and jihadist roots, they will face a huge challenge in addressing the understandable concerns of many Syrians.”
Read more here: Monday briefing – How the decade-long war in Syria ended almost overnight
Reuters reports that China’s foreign ministry spokesperson has called for the restoration of stability and order in Syria and the search for a “political solution” as soon as possible.
Overnight Israel’s military issued handout pictures of its troops operating in the Hermon area of Syria.
After the ground operation in Gaza which was launched in October 2023, and the incursions into southern Lebanon which began in October 2024, Syria is the third country or territory that Israeli troops have invaded in the last 14 months.
The 'domino effect' rippling through the Middle East
Grappling with the rapidly evolving geopolitical dynamic in the Middle East?
The Guardian’s Bethan McKernan has this analysis on how Hezbollah’s war with Israel left the Assad regime fatally exposed.
“It was not a coincidence that the Syrian group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) began its push for the city of Aleppo on the same day that Israel and Hezbollah agreed a ceasefire to end the fighting in Lebanon,” she writes.
“The domino effect set in motion by Hamas on 7 October 2023 is still rippling through the Middle East, this weekend resulting in the spectacular downfall of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad.”
Full analysis here:
Updated
Quintessential scenes of a fallen, dictatorial regime
Assad’s palace burned and looted in the hours after he fled the country. Below is a photo gallery of how it unfolded, chandeliers and all.
Updated
Distant dreams of Syrian exiles could soon be realised
A compelling dispatch from the Guardian’s Ruth Michaelson on the dreams of Syrian exiles who have been longing to return home.
“The Kawases have lived just two hours from Aleppo in the Turkish city of Gaziantep for almost a decade, only able to visit their home town in their dreams. And even then, said Haleem, these were always punctuated with memories of being chased through the streets by Assad’s security forces as they did during those early protests.
Thoughts of returning were also a distant dream until they saw pictures of insurgents approaching the edge of Aleppo. Change was coming, they decided.”
Read the full story here:
Updated
UN security council to convene for emergency meeting
The UN security council is expected to convene for an emergency meeting on Syria today, a day after the country’s deposed leader fled the country and was granted asylum on “humanitarian grounds” in Russia.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist group that led the offensive in Syria is still designated as a terrorist group by the US, Turkey and the United Nations.
‘I haven’t seen the sun until today’, says freed prisoner
Amid the rapid insurgency that has swept through Syria and led to toppling of president Assad, tens of thousands of people held in prisons in the country have been freed, reports the Associated Press.
Among those released as rebels forces gained control was prisoner Bashar Barhoum, a 63-year-old writer who was due to be executed on Sunday.
Instead, writes the Associates Press, he walked into the Damascus sunshine.
“I haven’t seen the sun until today,” he said after walking in disbelief through the streets of Damascus. “Instead of being dead tomorrow, thank God, he gave me a new lease of life.”
Videos shared widely across social media showed dozens of prisoners running in celebration after the insurgents released them, some barefoot and others wearing little clothing. One of them screaming in celebration after he learned the government had fallen.
Syria’s prisons have been infamous for their harsh conditions. Torture is systematic, say human rights groups, whistleblowers, and former detainees. Secret executions have been reported at more than two dozen facilities run by Syrian intelligence, as well as at other sites.
Syria's notorious Sednaya prison
As the brutal regime of Bashar al-Assad fell, the doors of the country’s notorious prisons have opened, including those of Sednaya, a facility described as a “human slaughterhouse”.
Across the country prisoners, bewildered and exultant, have poured out of their cells.
But it’s not clear if all detainees are free.
Since the beginning of the crisis in Syria in 2011, Sednaya prison, which is about 30 kilometres from the capital, had become the final destination for both peaceful opponents of the authorities as well as military personnel suspected of opposing the regime.
On Monday Syria’s White Helmets civil defence forces said they were investigating claims of “hidden underground cells” in the prison that, according to accounts from survivors, could be holding further detainees.
The White Helmets said they had deployed five specialised emergency teams, consisting of search and rescue units, wall-breaching specialists, iron door-opening crews, trained dog units, and medical responders, the group said in a post on X.
The White Helmets has deployed 5 specialized emergency teams to Sednaya Prison to investigate hidden underground cells, reportedly holding detainees according to survivors. The teams consist of search and rescue units, wall-breaching specialists, iron door-opening crews, trained…
— The White Helmets (@SyriaCivilDef) December 8, 2024
Updated
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of events in Syria. I’m Kate Lamb. It is almost 9am in Damascus on the day after the fall of the Assad regime.
In a series of extraordinary events on Sunday, rebels advanced into the capital unopposed and President Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia. He has since been granted asylum on “humanitarian grounds”, according to a Kremlin source, Russian news agencies reported.
Join me as we follow the day’s events. Here is a summary of the most recent developments:
Syrian anti-government rebels declared they had ousted President Bashar al-Assad after seizing control of Damascus on Sunday, in an astonishing end to his family’s decades of autocratic rule after more than 13 years of civil war.
The ousted Syrian president is now in Russia, according to a Kremlin source, where he has been granted asylum on “humanitarian grounds”.
The United Nations security council will convene on Monday afternoon for an emergency closed door meeting on Syria in the aftermath of the ousted president fleeing the country.
Thousands of Syrians have rallied across cities in Europe in the wake of the news, waving flags and barely able to contain their joy at Assad’s downfall. Similar celebrations have also been seen in Syrian embassies, including in Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.
As armed rebels swept cities across Syria, flinging open detention facilities where rights groups estimated that at least 100,000 people were considered missing or forcibly disappeared since 2011 at the hands of the state. This included the Sednaya military prison, a facility notorious as the site of particularly brutal and humiliating methods of torture.
UN secretary-general António Guterres on Sunday praised the end of Syria’s “dictatorial regime” and called on the country to focus on rebuilding.
Joe Biden said the sudden collapse of the Syrian government was a “fundamental act of justice” after decades of repression, but that it’s “a moment of risk and uncertainty” for the Middle East. The US Central Command said its forces conducted dozens of airstrikes on Islamic State targets in central Syria on Sunday.
The US president also said it believes missing American journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared 12 years ago near the Syrian capital, is alive and “we think we can get him back”.
Rebel commander Abu Mohammed al-Jolani said in a statement read on Syria’s state TV that there is no room for turning back. “The future is ours,” his statement said. Al-Jolani, commander of Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), reportedly said that all state institutions would remain under the supervision of al-Assad’s prime minister until they were handed over officially.
The Israeli military has issued a warning to five towns in southern Syria, calling on residents to stay at home “until further notice” due to ongoing combat in the area.
Arab states will seek to avert the threat of a reignited Syrian civil war by starting an open dialogue with all the forces on the ground to ensure any transition is inclusive of all Syrians regardless of ethnicity, Qatar’s foreign ministry has said.
