Destruction from Israeli airstrikes near the Mezzeh airbase in southern Damascus, Syria, December 8, 2024 (Sham FM)

EA on International Media: Syria After The Fall of Assad

What Now for Syria’s Kurds?

UPDATES: Assad Regime Is Over In Syria

UPDATE 1629 GMT:

Syria’s interim government has asked the UN High Commission for Refugees to remain in the country.

Saying “the needs are absolutely huge”, Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, UNHCR’s representative in Syria, told reporters that the agency had had “some contact with the interim authorities”: “The initial signals that they are sending us are constructive”.

He explained that the interim government said “that they want us to stay in Syria, that they appreciate the work that we have been doing now for many years, that they need us to continue doing that work”.

The interim authorities had also indicated that “they will provide us the necessary security to carry out those activities”.

UPDATE 1609 GMT:

Abu Hassan al-Hamwi, the military commander of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has described the year-long planning of the operation which culminated in the overthrow of the Assad regime.

Al-Hamwi said preparations began for years before the operational plans. He emphasized the need for organization and coordination.

After the last campaign [in August 2019], during which we lost significant territory, all revolutionary factions realised the critical danger – the fundamental problem was the absence of unified leadership and control over battle.

The 2019 campaign was a counter-attack against an 11-month Russian-regime offensive in the northwest. After it failed, the pro-Assad forces seized the remainder of Hama Province and parts of Idlib and Aleppo. A ceasefire, agreed between Russia and Turkey, led to an uneasy partition of the region until this month.

Afterwards, al-Hamwi said, “We studied the enemy thoroughly, analyzing their tactics, both day and night, and used these insights to develop our own forces.”

Military branches, units, and security forces were created. Production of weaponry, vehicles, and ammunition began. A drone unit was created with engineers, mechanics. “We needed reconnaissance drones, attack drones and suicide drones, with a focus on range and endurance,” al-Hamwi said.

Last year the northwest rebel coalition sent messages to counterparts in the south, discussing how to create a unified war room. An operations room brought together the commanders of around 25 southern rebel groups. Planning began on the approach to Damascus from both the north and the south.

Turkish officials have claimed that the initial goal of the rebel offensive, which began on November 27, was merely to gain some territory in Aleppo Province. Al-Hamwi’s account challenges that, indicating that rebels did not just seize an opportunity to capture Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, but were looking to do so all along.

Rebels entered Aleppo city on November 29. Just over a week later, they were in Damascus.

Now, al-Hamwi says:

We affirm that minorities in Syria are part of the nation and have the right to practice their rituals, education, and services like every other Syrian citizen.

The regime planted division, and we are trying, as much as possible, to bridge these divides.

UPDATE 1255 GMT:

Outlets of Turkey’s Erdoğan Government say Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken have “discussed what roles they can play for ensuring a healthy, inclusive and stable power transition in Syria”, despite differences on American support of the Kurdish authority in the northeast of the country.

Fidan said after the meeting:

Stabilizing Syria as soon as possible, eliminating terrorism and preventing the dominance of DAESH [the Islamic State and [the Turkish Kurdish insurgency] PKK are among our priorities.

What can we do on all this? What are our common concerns and what solutions can we find to address them? We have discussed these issues in detail.

Blinken declared the importance for the Syrian people, making good use of the opportunity from the collapse of the Assad regime, to pursue a better future for the country.

He said there was general consensus between Ankara and Washington on the new Syria they want to see.

UPDATE 1247 GMT:

Defense Minister Israel Katz has indicated that Israel’s cross-border incursion into southern Syria will last for months.

Katz said he has ordered the military to prepare to stay atop the Syrian-controlled side of Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights throughout the winter.

Due to what is happening in Syria, there is a huge security importance to our holding of the Hermon peak and everything must be done to ensure the Israel Defense Force’s preparations in the area, to allow the troops to stay there in the difficult weather conditions.

Katz ordered the move during an assessment on Thursday with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and other senior officers.

UPDATE 1151 GMT:

Reuters publishes details of Bashar al-Assad’s quick departure for Moscow (see 0938 GMT) last Sunday.

The previous day, Assad assured a meeting of around 30 army and security chiefs at the Defense Ministry that Russian military support was on its way. He urged ground forces to hold out, according to a commander who was present.

He told his presidential office manager that he was going home but instead headed to the airport, according to an “aide in his inner circle”.

Assad had called his media advisor Buthaina Shaaban and asked her to come to his home to write him a speech. But when she arrived, no one was there.

Assad spoke by phone with Prime Minister Mohammed Jalali at 10.30 pm. Jalali described how difficult the situation was” with “panic and horror in the streets”.

Assad replied, “Tomorrow, we will see. Tomorrow, tomorrow.”

Jalali tried to call Assad as dawn broke on Sunday, but there was no response.

Assad did not even inform his younger brother Maher, commander of the Army’s 4th Armored Division, according to three aides. Maher flew a helicopter to Iraq and then to Russia.

Assad’s maternal cousins, Ihab and Iyad Makhlouf, were left behind. The pair tried to flee by car to Lebanon but were ambushed by rebels who shot and killed Ihab dead and wounded Iyad, the sources said.

On Sunday, Assad — reportedly escorted by Russian military intelligence — flew to Russia’s Hmeimim airbase in western Syria and from there to Moscow. His wife Asma and their three children were already in the Russian capital, according to “three former close aides and a senior regional official”.

The departure was so sudden that in the Assad home, cooked food left on the stove and personal belongings such as family photo albums were abandoned.

Three members of Assad’s inner circle said he wanted to seek refuge in the UAE< but the Emiratis feared an international backlash.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, at the Doha forum in Qatar on Saturday and Sunday, urged Turkey and Qatar — with their connections with the Islamist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham — to secure Assad’s safe exit to Russia. The two countries did so, according to three sources.

Russia coordinated with neighboring states to ensure that a Russian plane leaving Syrian airspace with Assad on board would not be intercepted or targeted.

UPDATE 1134 GMT:

The celebration in Homs today:

UPDATE 1054 GMT:

Syrians are attending their first Friday Prayers after liberation from the Assad regime:

Trading in military uniform for civilian clothes, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham leader Ahmed al-Sharaa called on Syrians to mark the occasion:

A senior officer in the new Syrian military gives a sermon outside a mosque in the village of Kafr Al-Zeit in Damascus Province.

The officer, Ahmed al-Dalati, stressed the need for Syria to be united and for all Syrians of different sects, not just the Sunnis, to participate in political revival.

“We are not sectarian in Syria,” he said.

UPDATE 0938 GMT:

Bashar al-Assad in 2012:

Who runs? A person who has been given money, so he is corrupt and bribed. Cowardly person. Who runs away, practically, either weak or bad. A good and patriotic person does not run away.

Assad reportedly fled for Moscow last weekend, as rebels closed on Damascus, without telling Ministers or the military.

UPDATE 0917 GMT:

A former Assad regime official has been charged in the US with the torture of detainees at the Adra Prison near Damascus.

Samir Ousman al-Sheikh, 72, appeared before a federal grand jury in Los Angeles approved on three counts of torture and one count of conspiracy to commit torture.

Prosecutors said he ordered detainees to be taken to the “punishment wing”, where they were beaten while hanging from the ceiling. Guards would forcibly fold bodies in half, leading to excruciating pain and fractured spines.

In July, al-Sheikh was charged in July with attempted naturalization fraud in his effort to seek U.S. citizenship in 2023. He was arrested as he tried to fly to Lebanon’s capital Beirut.

Al-Sheikh, appointed governor of Deir ez-Zor Province in eastern Syria in 2011, emigrated to the US in 2020.

On Monday, federal prosecutors unsealed charges against Jamil Hassan, the Assad regime’s head of the Air Force Intelligence Directorate, and Abdul Salam Mahmoud, a brigadier general in the directorate who ran a prison in Damascus.

UPDATE, DEC 13:

Turkey is reopening its embassy in Damascus. Burhan Koroglu, currently Ankara’s Ambassador to Mauritania, has been named chargé d’affaires.

Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, Bahrain, Oman, and Italy have also reopened diplomatic missions. Qatar has announced that it will soon do so.

On Thursday, Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin and Qatar’s head of state security, Khalfan al-Kaabi, arrived in Damascus for talks. They met Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the Islamist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, and interim Prime Minister Mohammad al-Bashir.

Kalin also prayed in the 8th-century Umayyad Mosque, ten years after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed to one day worship in its courtyards.

Legislators from Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party have taken Turkish businessmen on scouting missions to Syrian cities such as Aleppo, with contracts for reconstruction being considered.

UPDATE 1842 GMT:

Officials in the new Syrian government have reportedly met with ambassadors, including the envoy from the UAE.

Discussions concerned support for Syria’s stability, recognition of the new government, and investment in the Syrian economy.

UPDATE 1818 GMT:

Clashes are reported between local residents and the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Raqqa in northern Syria.

Raqqa is the country’s sixth-largest city. It was occupied by the Islamic State between 2014 and 2017, when it was liberated by the SDF.

Turkish-backed rebels are putting pressure in northeast Syria on the Kurdish authority, which is also facing risings by local Arab tribes.

The SDF said its forces were “repelling an attack” by Turkish-aligned fighters at the Tishreen Dam, near Manbij, in Aleppo Province.

“Fierce clashes continue amid fears for the dam,” the SDF said, citing bombardment by Turkish warplanes and tanks.

SDF head Gen. Mazloum Abdi told Sky News that his forces had been forced to pause the fighting against the Islamic State in eastern Syria. He warned, “Previously, [ISIS] were in remote areas and hiding, but now they have greater freedom of movement since they face no issues with other groups and are not engaged in conflict with them.”

UPDATE 1814 GMT:

Thousands of mourners marched through central Damascus for Mazen al-Hamada, an activist and long-time detainee whose body was discovered on Tuesday in the notorious Sednaya Prison near the capital.

The mourners, carrying posters of missing detainees, called for justice and chanted for Bashar al-Assad to be put on trial: “We will get our revenge, Bashar. We will bring you before the law.”

The marchers chanted outside a mosque while family and friends held funeral prayers inside, “We will not forget your blood, Mazen.”

Hamada was imprisoned and tortured in 2012. He was released, but coercing by Assad intelligence officers into returning to Syria from Germany in 2020. He immediately disappeared (see Dec 11, 0948 GMT).

The coffin of Syrian activist Mazen al-Hamada is carried for burial in Damascus, December 12, 2024 (Ghaith Alsayed/AP)

Photo: Ghaith Alsayed/AP

UPDATE 1727 GMT:

A snapshot from journalist Oz Katerji in Damascus:

UPDATE 1315 GMT:

Israel has rejected international calls, including by France, for its troops to pull back in their cross-border incursion into Syria.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein posted, “This was necessary for defensive reasons due to threats posed by jihadist groups operating near the border.”

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that there was a “vacuum on Israel’s border”: “That is why Israeli forces entered the buffer zone and took control of strategic sites”.

It maintained, “This deployment is temporary until a force that is committed to the 1974 [armistice] agreement can be established and security on our border can be guaranteed.”

Following the UN and several countries in the Middle East, France’s Foreign Ministry criticized Israel’s “violation” of the 1974 disengagement agreement that established the UN-patrolled buffer zone.

“France calls on Israel to withdraw from the zone and to respect Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” said a ministry spokesperson.

UN Secretary General António Guterres reiterated his call on Israel to stop attacks.

“The Secretary General is particularly concerned over the hundreds of Israeli air strikes on several locations in Syria, stressing the need the urgent need to deescalate violence on all fronts throughout the country,” spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

UPDATE 1305 GMT:

Syria’s new government is suspending the Constitution and Parliament during a three-month transition period.

“A judicial and human rights committee will be established to examine the constitution and then introduce amendments,” said spokesperson Obaida Arnaout. “Our priority is to preserve and protect institutions.”

Arnaout said a meeting will be held on Tuesday between ministers of the new Government and former ministers of the regime for the transfer of power.

He pledged that the Government will institute “the rule of law” and that “all those who committed crimes against the Syrian people will be judged in accordance with the law”.

He added, “We respect religious and cultural diversity in Syria“, adding that they would remain unchanged.

UPDATE 1130 GMT:

The Syrian government has thanked Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, Bahrain, Oman, and Italy “for resuming the activities of their diplomatic missions in Damascus”.

Qatar said on Wednesday that it will “soon” reopen its embassy to “strengthen the close historical fraternal ties between the two countries” and to “enhance coordination with relevant authorities to facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid”.

UPDATE 1102 GMT:

A secret document, obtained by the Saudi outlet Al-Arabiya, confirms that the Assad regime carried out twin suicide car bomb attacks that killed at least 55 people and wounded 372 in Damascus in May 2012.

The blasts were near a military intelligence building during morning rush hour.

The regime blamed opposition groups for the explosions, during a ceasefire monitored by a UN team.

But the document confirms that the regime planned the attack and the campaign to pin it on the opposition.

Claims are circulating that rebel factions have captured high-level documents from the headquarters of Assad regime intelligence services in Aleppo and other cities and towns.

UPDATE 0933 GMT:

The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards has insisted that Tehran did not abandon the Assad regime.

Gen. Hossein Salami said Iran, which propped up Bashar al-Assad throughout the Syrian uprising from March 2011, “was really trying day and night to help in whatever way it could”.

The Supreme Leader declared in a speech on Wednesday:

We were ready even under the difficult circumstances. They came to me and said they had prepared all the means needed for the Syrians and were ready to go. But the skies were closed, the land was closed. The Zionist regime and the US closed both the skies of Syria and the land routes.

Salami indicated that Iran’s regime would now seek an accommodation with the new government in Syria.

We have to live with the realities of Syria; we look at them and act based on them.

Strategies must change according to the circumstances. We cannot solve numerous global and regional issues with stagnation and employing the same tactics.

Iran’s Ambassador to Syria said Tehran’s communication with the ruling groups in Syria have been conducted “through multiple intermediaries”. He said the groups do not yet possess the status of a government with which agreements can be made.

The Guards continued to echo the Supreme Leader in declaring “the abuse of the current instability in Syria by the US and the Zionist regime”.

UPDATE, DEC 12:

Syria’s Ba’ath Party has suspended its work indefinitely after the fall of Bashaar al-Assad.

The party’s central leadership said in a statement that it will “suspend party work and activity in all its forms…until further notice”.

Ba’ath properties and funds will be handed over to the Interior and Finance Ministries.

The Ba’ath Party was founded in April 1947, a year after Syria’s independence from France. It was taken over by the Assad family after Hafez al-Assad, Bashar’s father, seized power in 1970.

UPDATE 1800 GMT:

Assad regime military officers fled to Benghazi in eastern Libya on Sunday.

Officials at the Benina airport confirmed that the officers arrived on a Cham Wings flight. The global tracking website FlightAware documented a plane moving from Syria to Benina.

Officials said the Syrian officers were transferred to the Al-Jufra military base, in preparation for transfer to Russia.

UPDATE 1741 GMT:

Survivors of the Assad regime’s chlorine attack on Douma near Damascus in April 2018, now free from retribution, have broken their silence.

The assault killed 43 civilians in an apartment block. Russia, the Assad regime, and allied activists have spent years pushing disinformation to cover up the truth.

OPCW Formally Blames Syria’s Assad Regime for Douma Chlorine Attack Killing 43 Civilians

Denying Syria’s Chemical Attacks, Attacking the Inspectors — The Douma Case

Tawfiq Diam lost his wife and four children aged 8 to 12.

“If I’d spoken out before, Bashar al-Assad’s forces would have cut off my tongue. They would have slit my throat. We were not allowed to talk about it,” he says.

He recalls:

I heard an explosion and people shouted on the streets, “Chemicals, chemicals.” I came running out. There was a foul smell. I saw yellow foam coming out of people’s mouths. My children were not able to breathe, they were choking. I saw people lying in the street.

His eyes welling up with tears, Tawfiq pulls out the only photo he has of his children, “Not a day goes by when I don’t think of them.”

Khalid Naseer lost his pregnant wife Fatima, his baby daughter Nour, and his two-year-old son Omar.

“The whole world knows Bashar al-Assad is an oppressor and a liar, and that he killed his own people. My wife was killed two days before she was due to deliver our baby,” he says.

Diam and Naseer take a BBC team to a mound, believing it is a mass grave of the victims. They say the toll from the attack is far higher than the 43 deaths recorded by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which found the Assad regime culpable for the mass killing.

“We want fresh investigations,” says Naseer, explaining that the testimony given by many to the OPCW Fact Finding Mission in 2019 was not reliable.

Abdul Rahman Hijazi, an eyewitness who testified before the mission, says he was forced to give the regime’s version of events.

Intelligence officers detained me and told me to lie. They told me to say that people were killed because of dust inhalation not chemicals. They threatened me, that if I didn’t agree, my family will not be safe. They told me my house was surrounded by the regime’s men.

Hijazi says, “I want the truth to come out. I’m unable to sleep. I want justice for every parent.”

UPDATE 1715 GMT:

Nearly five times more Russians died fighting in support of the Assad regime than Moscow has officially acknowledged, according to a new analysis from BBC Russian.

The outlet established the deaths of at least 543 men, including at least 346 Wagner Group mercenaries, between 2015 and 2024.

Around 80 of the mercenaries were slain in February 2018 in northeast Syria by US warplanes and artillery. The men were supporting an Assad regime attempt to seize an oilfield.

Among regular troops, the casualties included one major general, 10 colonels, 15 lieutenant colonels, 31 majors, and 61 officers with the rank of lieutenant to captain. Many of the dead were from special forces groups.

The list was compiled from social media posts, leaked documents, and war memorials.

The Russian Defense Ministry has acknowledged the loss of only 116 men, with its last update in spring 2019.

UPDATE 1649 GMT:

Captured documents reveal a years-long arrangement, mediated by Russia, between Israel and the Assad regime.

Russia and the regime would allow Israeli airstrikes to prevent Iran’s transfer of weapons to Lebanon’s Hezbollah and military build-ups by both. In return, the regime’s army could address its “needs” without fear of attack by Israel.

An operative codenamed Moses was in direct contact with the Assad reigme’s Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Ali Mahmoud Abbas. The messages were forwarded to State security head Ali Mamlouk.

Moses repeatedly informed the regime about specific incidents, warning of consequences if they continued. They included rockets launched by Hamas from the Syrian-held Golan Heights into northern Israel, support of Hezbollah’s air defense capability, and “any unmonitored activity bypassing Russian oversight”.

UPDATE 1607 GMT:

A snapshot of the Assad regime’s bureaucacy, as incoming administrators such as Mohammed Ghazal try to organize State functions after Syria’s liberation:

One man introduced himself as the head of the public relations department, which he said included “international co-operation” as well as a division for “festival and events management”. Asked what this division did exactly, the civil servant answered, “flags”.

“There’s a department for flags?” Ghazal asked incredulously. 

“Yes, when foreign dignitaries come, we put up a lot of flags,” he said. “We hang them from the poles. It’s a big job.”

UPDATE 1556 GMT:

Families of detainees try to identify them in images of corpses displayed on the doors of a hospital in Damascus:

UPDATE 1451 GMT:

Rebels have raided a large warehouse near Damascus distributing the amphetamine Captagon.

The Assad regime and its military reportedly earned billions from the sales of Captagon. The network was allegedly managed by Bashar al-Assad’s brother, Brig. Gen. Maher al-Assad.

UPDATE 1446 GMT:

Video of rebels torching and destroying the tomb of Assad family members, including Bashar al-Assad’s father and predecessor Hafez and his late brother Basel, in Qardaha in Latakia Province in western Syria.

UPDATE 1348 GMT:

Citing its sources, Bloomberg says the Kremlin persuaded Bashar al-Assad to flee to Russia with his family, after Moscow realized a rebel offensive would defeat the regime.

Assad was flown out of the country via a Russian airbase by Moscow’s intelligence agents. The airplane’s transponder was likely turned off to avoid tracking.

Vladimir Putin questioned his security services over their failure to spot the growing threat to Assad’s regime until it was too late.

A Russian official and ex-diplomat told The Moscow Times:

Even before Assad’s escape, it was clear that the situation was critical.

It’s a major inconvenience. Our diplomats and intelligence services were ordered to adapt quickly, try to engage in dialogue, and start building relations with the new authorities.

UPDATE 1332 GMT:

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry says Doha “will soon reopen its embassy in the sisterly Syrian Arab Republic after completing the necessary arrangements”.

The Ministry said the reopening will “strengthen the close historical fraternal ties between the two countries” and “enhance coordination with relevant authorities to facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid currently provided by Qatar to the Syrian people”.

Qatar closed its diplomatic mission in Damascus and recalled its ambassador in July 2011, four months after the start of the uprising against the Assad regime.

UPDATE 1325 GMT:

Interim Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir has told Italy’s Corriere della Sera that the government’s priorities are “to restore security and stability in all Syrian cities”, “to bring back the millions of Syrian refugees who are scattered around the world”, and to pursue “strategic planning” to end the “precariousness of essential services like electricity, food, and water”.

People are exhausted by injustice and tyranny. The authority of the state must be reestablished to allow people to return to work and resume their normal lives.

However, he warned, “In the vaults, there are only Syrian pounds, which are worth next to nothing. Financially, we are in a very bad state.”

Asked about the past of the Islamist faction Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, he said:

The wrongful actions of certain Islamist groups have led many people, especially in the west, to associate Muslims with terrorism and Islam with extremism. There were mistakes and misunderstandings that distorted the true meaning of Islam, which is “the religion of justice.’ Precisely because we are Islamic, we will guarantee the rights of all people and all communities in Syria.

UPDATE 1300 GMT:

Reeling from the loss of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Iran’s Supreme Leader has blamed the US, Israel, and Turkey.

Ayatollah Khamenei declared:

There should be no doubt that what happened in Syria is the product of a joint American and Zionist plan.

Yes, a neighboring government of Syria plays, has played, and is playing an obvious role in this regard – everyone sees this – but the main conspirator, mastermind, and command centre are in America and the Zionist regime.

We have evidence. This evidence leaves no room for doubt.

Khamenei insisted that the “Axis of Resistance” has been boosted by Assad’s loss and by Israel’s decimation of Gaza’s Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah:

You must understand that the more pressure you put on the Resistance Front, the stronger it becomes. The more crimes you commit, the more motivated it becomes. The more you fight it, the more it will expand. By the grace of God, the resistance will expand more than before to cover the entire region.

He blustered, “The US won’t be able to strengthen its foothold in Syria, and the US will be expelled from the region by the Resistance Front.”

Explaining Iran’s inaction as the 11-day rebel offensive toppled Assad, Khamenei insisted:

We were ready even under the difficult circumstances. They came to me and said they had prepared all the means needed for the Syrians and were ready to go. But the skies were closed, the land was closed. The Zionist regime and the US closed both the skies of Syria and the land routes.

The Kremlin also struck a pose after the collapse of its intervention in Syria since March 2011, including intense military operations from September 2015 to keep Assad in power.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov proclaimed:

Russia helped the Syrian Arab Republic to deal with terrorists at one time and helped to stabilize the situation after this situation threatened the entire region. And it spent a lot of effort for this. Then Russia fulfilled its mission.

And then the leadership of Assad worked in their country, was engaged in development in their country, but, unfortunately, [it] led to the situation that exists now.

Now we need to proceed from the realities that currently exist on the ground.

Peskov told reporters, “You know, of course, that we are in contact with those who are currently in control of the situation in Syria.”

UPDATE 1005 GMT:

The Biden Administration is considering the removal of the foreign terror designation of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamist faction leading the overthrow of the Assad regime.

A “former US official” said discussions aim to “create a pathway for the world to interact with the new government”.

Two officials said the Administration looking to lift the designation “soon”, but another said talks are still in early stages.

Earlier in the day Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US will eventually recognize a new government if it renounces terrorism, destroys chemical weapons stocks, and protects the rights of minorities and women.

“The Syrian people will decide the future of Syria. All nations should pledge to support an inclusive and transparent process and refrain from external interference,” Blinken said in a statement.

UPDATE 0948 GMT:

On Tuesday, the body of Syrian activist and long-time political prisoner Mazen al-Hamada was found.

Hamada was tortured by the Assad regime in 2012 before his release and departure from Syria. He disappeared in 2020 after being coerced by the regime’s embassy in Berlin to return to the country.

Relatives identified him yesterday among around 40 corpses wrapped in bloodied sheets and dumped at the military hospital in the Damascus suburb of Harasta. The victims appeared to have been killed in the previous hours, and photos of Hamada indicated he was tortured to the end.

Sara Afshar, who featured Hamada in her documentary “Syria’s Disappeared”, posted:

In the documentary, Hamada passionately appealed:

[The Assad regime] destroyed the beautiful memories. They destroyed my childhood. There is nothing they didn’t destroy.

And now I go to work to feel like I am human, a man with dignity and principles.

UPDATE 0919 GMT:

Turkish-backed rebels are claiming control of Kurdish areas in northeast Syria.

The rebels said they hold the city of Deir ez-Zor after battles with the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. A member of the Islamic faction Hayat al-Tahrir Sham said it is patrolling neighborhoods to secure the city.

The source said Al Bukamal is also in rebel hands, and Raqqa and Hasakah are being targeted.

On Tuesday, Turkey attacked a convoy of trucks of the Kurdish militia YPG in the city of Qamishli near the border.

Turkish officials claimed the convoy was carrying missiles, heavy weapons and ammunition abandoned by the Assad regime and seized by the militias. They said 12 trucks, two tanks, and two ammunition depots were destroyed.

In Aleppo Province, the Turkey-backed rebels and the SDF reportedly reached a ceasefire agreement in the city of Manbij.

SDF commander Mazloum Abdi said the agreement was reached through US mediation “to ensure the safety and security of civilians”. The SDF and fighters of the Manbij Military Council would withdraw “as soon as possible”.

ORIGINAL ENTRY, DEC 11: Syria’s rebels have begun forming a transitional government after victory over the Assad regime last weekend.

However, the new leaders are already facing hundreds of Israeli airstrikes and a cross-border incursion 10 km (6.2 miles) into Syria, around 25 km (15 miles) from Damascus.

Mohammed al-Bashir was appointed interim Prime Minister on Tuesday. In a televised addres, he said he will lead the transitional government until March 1.

Bashir was head of the Syrian Salvation Government, backed by the Islamist faction Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, in the opposition area of northwest Syria.

Later in the day, he met members of the transitional government and made a television address urging “calm and stability”. He told Al Jazeera:

We invited members from the old government and some directors from the administration in Idlib and its surrounding areas in order to facilitate all the necessary works for the next two months until we have a constitutional system to be able to serve the Syrian people.

Today, we had other meetings to restart the institutions to be able to serve our people in Syria.

Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham leader Ahmed al-Sharaa addressed other countries as he promised Syria “will be rebuilt”:

Their fears are unnecessary, God willing. The fear was from the presence of the [Assad] regime.

The country is moving towards development and reconstruction. It’s going towards stability.

People are exhausted from war. So the country isn’t ready for another one and it’s not going to get into another one.

The source of our fears was from the Iranian militias, Hezbollah and the regime which committed the massacres we are seeing today. So their removal is the solution for Syria. The current situation won’t allow for a return to panic.

Israel’s Attacks

Even as he spoke, Israeli forces bombed airbases, warehouses and “scientific research centers”, which carried out the Assad regime’s research and development of conventional and chemical weapons.

The Israel Defense Forces boasted that there were more than 480 strikes, most in southern Syria and around Damascus but also in the cities of Homs, Tartus, Latakia and Palmyra. The emphasis was on army bases with air defense systems and stores of surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles.

During a visit to a naval base in Haifa, Defense minister Israel Katz said that Israeli forces destroyed the Syrian fleet in an operation on Monday night.

Katz said he had ordered a “sterile defensive zone” to be created in southern Syria, without a permanent Israeli presence.

Israeli officials acknowledged that troops had moved beyond the demilitarized zone established by the UN between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Around 130 airstrikes, aimed at weapons depots, military structures, launchers, and firing positions, supported the ground operations, said the IDF.