Israel wishes to establish diplomatic relations with the new regime in Syria, says Netanyahu | Live

Syrian President Bashar Assad is currently in Russia, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov confirmed in an interview with NBC.

“President Assad is in Russia,” Ryabkov told the U.S. network, adding that the ousted leader is “safe.”

Syrian President Bashar Assad is currently in Russia, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov confirmed in an interview with NBC.

“President Assad is in Russia,” Ryabkov told the U.S. network, adding that the ousted leader is “safe.”

The Lebanese Army reported that unidentified armed men crossed the border from Syrian territory and approached a Lebanese Army border post. Warning shots were fired, forcing the armed individuals to retreat back into Syria, the statement said.

Syria’s new interim Prime Minister Mohammad al-Bashir pledged “stability” and “calm” for the Syrian people, who have endured more than 13 years of war. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Bashir, appointed by the Islamist rebels who overthrew President Bashar Assad, said, “It is time for this nation to enjoy stability and calm, to be cared for, and to know that its government is here to provide the services it needs.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that “Israel wishes to establish diplomatic relations with the new regime in Syria,” according to Haaretz.

The Lebanese Army prevented Syrian civilians from entering a room previously occupied by the Syrian army in Deir al-Ashayer, a town in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. The individuals had reportedly been attempting to seize items from the room, according to our correspondent.

Our correspondent also dismissed circulating reports of clashes between the Lebanese Army and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham as baseless.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to respond forcefully if the new Syrian leadership allows Iran, an ally of ousted President Bashar Assad, to "reestablish itself."

"If the new regime in Syria permits Iran to reestablish itself or authorizes the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah," the Iran-backed Lebanese group, "we will respond with force and exact a heavy price," Netanyahu warned.

The United States is urging all countries to support an “inclusive” political process in Syria, said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“The Syrian people will decide Syria's future. All nations must commit to supporting an inclusive and transparent process and refrain from outside interference,” said Blinken in a statement relayed by AFP, adding that the U.S. "will fully recognize and support the future Syrian government that emerges from this process."

Explosions were heard in Mais al-Jabal and surrounding villages, reports our correspondent in southern Lebanon.

Reports are circulating that the Israeli army is bombing houses in the village.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said that 104 journalists and media workers have been killed so far in 2024, with more than half killed by Israel in the Gaza Strip, according to the Associated Press.

The federation said that since the Oct. 7, 2023 start of the war, at least 138 had been killed.

On top of the global fatalities, the IFJ said that the number of journalists in prison was also on the rise, with a sharp increase to 520, compared to 427 last year.

"These sad figures show once again how fragile is press freedom and how risky and dangerous is the profession of journalism," said IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger.

At the al-Mejtehed hospital in Damascus, Dr. Mohammad told L'Orient Today's reporters that he had received "about 30 to 40 bodies."

"Most of them have numbers, there are no names, except for a few soldiers. Among these bodies, there is that of a woman," he continued.

The bodies are "heavily mutilated," he said, adding that it is often the eyes that "are ravaged."

He specifies that among the bodies identified – four or five – by relatives, is that of Mazen al-Hamada, the Syrian who had testified, on camera, about the terrible torture he had suffered during his first incarceration, in 2011. Released in 2014, he returned to Syria in 2017, after spending a few years as a refugee in the Netherlands. He had disappeared upon his arrival at Damascus airport.

Israel ordered its army to create a weapons-free zone in southern Syria, AFP reports.

Turkey is strengthening the capacity of its border posts to allow the return of Syrian refugees to their country, the Turkish Interior Minister said, according to AFP.

"We had a daily capacity of 3,000 crossings until now and we have now increased it to 15,000 to 20,000 per day," announced Minister Ali Yerlikaya.

Many Syrian refugees living in Turkey rushed south to return to Syria following news of the fall of President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also announced yesterday the reopening of the Yayladagi border post, located in the southern province of Hatay and closed since 2013, to allow the return of Syrian refugees.

The Israeli defense minister confirmed strikes last night against the Syrian fleet, according to AFP.

In pictures: Families continue to scour Syria's Sednaya prison for traces of their loved ones. Some have walked for hours to reach the hill on which the infamous building is built. So far, attempts to find hidden underground cells have been unsuccessful.

Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient Today

Turkey will wait until "the conditions are right" to open an embassy in Damascus, the Turkish foreign minister said, according to AFP.

"We will study this. We will wait until the conditions are right," Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan responded to journalists' questions about the possible opening of a Turkish embassy in Damascus.

Turkey closed its embassy in Damascus in March 2012 due to "a deterioration in security conditions in Syria."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also announced on Monday the reopening of a border post closed since 2013 for the return of Syrian refugees to their country.

Turkey will wait until "the conditions are right" to open an embassy in Damascus, the Turkish foreign minister said, according to AFP.

"We will study this. We will wait until the conditions are right," Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan responded to journalists' questions about the possible opening of a Turkish embassy in Damascus.

Turkey closed its embassy in Damascus in March 2012 due to "a deterioration in security conditions in Syria."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also announced on Monday the reopening of a border post closed since 2013 for the return of Syrian refugees to their country.

France, Germany and the United Kingdom urged Iran "to immediately end its nuclear escalation," according to spokespeople for the three foreign ministries, who condemn Tehran's measures to sharply increase the rate of production of highly enriched uranium, AFP reports.

"Iran's actions ... will increase Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which has no credible civilian justification, and are taking place without the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) having had time to implement the necessary additional safeguards," they lament in a joint statement.

(Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient Today)

A man searches the underground of Saydnaya prison in Syria in the hope of finding prisoners who are still alive. L'Orient Today's journalists on the ground entered the prison. 

The head of the HTS group's "salvation government" in his stronghold in northwestern Syria, Mohammed el-Bashir, on Nov. 28, 2024. (Credit: Omar Haj Kadour/AFP)

Mohamed al-Bashir announced in a televised statement that he has been appointed as the prime minister of Syria's transitional government until March 1, 2025, Reuters reports.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey cannot allow Syria to be divided again, AFP reports.

"From now on, we cannot allow Syria to be divided again ... Any attack on the freedom of the Syrian people, the stability of the new Syrian administration and the integrity of its territory will find us against it alongside the Syrian people," the Turkish head of state said in a televised speech.

An Israeli army spokesperson justified military operations in Syria by saying they wanted to "prevent strategic weapons from falling into hostile hands," according to Reuters.

The same spokesperson said Israel had no interest in Syria beyond protecting its borders and citizens.

He also reaffirmed that Israel was not advancing towards Damascus.

According to L'Orient Today's correspondent in south Lebanon, the Israeli army carried out a strike in Bint Jbeil.

A source within the Lebanese army also confirmed that the Israeli army fired a warning shot while a joint patrol of the Lebanese army and UNIFIL soldiers were trying to unblock the road linking Aitaroun to Bint Jbeil. However, the shot was not directed at the soldiers.

(Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient Today)

In front of the Al-Salam mosque in the Berzeh neighborhood of Damascus, dozens, perhaps hundreds, of families are searching for their missing relatives. These people, who came from different cities in Rif Damascus, and even from more distant regions such as Hama, had gone to Saydnaya prison yesterday, without success.

Today, they were asked to gather in front of this mosque, where people are registering their names and contact details in the hope of finding the missing.

Qatar is in contact with the Islamist group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the spearhead of the rebel offensive that toppled Bashar al-Assad in Syria, an official close to the discussions told AFP.

"The Qataris have established the first channel of communication with HTS. Contacts between HTS and Qatari diplomats should continue in the next 24 hours with Al-Bashir," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, referring to Mohammad al-Bashir, who is expected to lead the transitional government.

The Syrian government is meeting in the presence of Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, head of HTS, and Mohammad al-Bashir, tipped to become prime minister of the transitional government, according to several Arab media outlets.

Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson said Israel is exploiting the situation in Syria and "violating its sovereignty," according to Reuters.

According to Haaretz, the Israeli navy launched a large-scale assault on Syrian military vessels overnight, aimed at dismantling the Syrian fleet and preventing its assets from falling into the hands of hostile forces.

Israeli missile ships destroyed several Syrian boats carrying dozens of anti-ship missiles near the port of Latakia, the daily added in the morning.

The health ministry in Gaza announced on Tuesday a new death toll of 44,786 in the Palestinian territory since the start of the war with Israel 14 months ago.

At least 28 people have been killed in the past 24 hours, it said in a statement, adding that 106,188 people have been injured in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war, triggered by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Iran, a staunch supporter of the deposed Syrian president, repatriated 4,000 Syrian nationals since the rebels took Damascus and Bashar al-Assad fell on Sunday, according to the Iranian government, as reported by AFP.

"In the past three days, 4,000 Iranian citizens have been repatriated to Iran from Syria by ten Mahan Air flights," Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said on Tuesday when asked about the regional situation.

The Israeli army's Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, denied on X that the Israeli army had entered Syrian territory beyond the demilitarized zone in the Golan Heights region after Syrian sources claimed that it had come within 25 km of Damascus.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry denounced Israel's "occupation mentality" following the Israeli incursion into the Golan buffer zone, AFP reports.

"We strongly condemn Israel's entry into the buffer zone between Israel and Syria and its advance into Syrian territory ... At this sensitive time when the possibility of achieving peace and stability to which the Syrian people have aspired for many years appears, Israel is once again displaying its occupation mentality," the ministry said in a statement.

Kneeling, a man shoots the bolt with an automatic rifle. A first bullet, the bolt gives way, the cell door with it. Dozens of men escape, arms raised, faces in a trance.

Some are running, others are limping, some can no longer walk. On the other side of the windowless cells, the corridor is full. Silhouettes are hugging, crying. Many are speechless. Their eyes wide open, they wonder why they have been released. The man who captures these images – verified by L'Orient Today – assures them that Bashar al-Assad has left Syria. Here, the guards have long maintained a leaden silence.

Read the full story on Syria's " human slaughterhouse" prison Sednaya here.

Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 34 Palestinians overnight and today as Israeli tanks push into central and southern areas of the enclave, Reuters reported, citing medics.

An Israeli airstrike killed at least 25 people in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, where Israeli forces have been operating since October, and wounded dozens more in a multi-story building, medics said.

The Palestinian Civil Defense reported 25 deaths in an Israeli strike in northern Gaza, according to AFP.

In its latest edition of the Lebanon Economic Monitor, its biannual report on the Lebanese economy, the World Bank estimated that Lebanese GDP is expected to contract by 6.6 percent, confirming its previous projection published in its first assessment of the damage caused by the war between Israel and Hezbollah, dated Nov. 14.

“This deepening contraction reflects the devastating impact of mass displacement, destruction and reduced private consumption. It further exacerbates unresolved macroeconomic challenges and underscores the urgent need for comprehensive reforms and targeted investments in critical sectors as the only viable path forward after conflict,” the World Bank said in its introduction.

According to LBCI, the Israeli military began planning to eliminate Syrian naval forces after nearly destroying its air force.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati decided to create a crisis cell to address the issue of missing or kidnapped people in Syria. According to the daily al-Modon, the meeting also addressed the issue of security inside Lebanon, where the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel has been held for two weeks, despite several incidents and the fact that the Israeli army occupies a strip of territory in the south of the country.

(Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient Today)

While families remain hopeful of finding their loved ones, despite the announcement by Syrian rescuers that the search in Sednaya prison has ended, L'Orient Today's journalists are deployed on the ground to tell you about the fall of the regime, between relief and concern. 

The U.N. envoy for Syria said on Tuesday that the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which launched the offensive that led to the fall of Bashar al-Assad, had so far "sent a positive message" to the population.

"The reality so far is that HTS and other armed groups have sent a positive message to the Syrian people," Geir Pedersen said at a press conference, stressing that these words must now be transformed into actions on the ground.

According to L'Orient Today's correspondent, Israeli forces fired a warning shot at a joint patrol of the Lebanese army and the Polish contingent of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon as they tried to open the road linking Aitaroun to Bint Jbeil (Bint Jbeil), blocked for several days by a mound of earth. Neither UNIFIL nor the Lebanese army responded to calls for further details.

U.N. envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen called for an end to Israeli bombing and troop movements in Syria, according to a statement reported by Reuters.

He also stressed that there was a "risk" of new conflicts in the country if the widest range of ethnic groups were not involved after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Pedersen added that Syria could hope for an end to sanctions, the return of refugees and the implementation of justice, provided that "good arrangements" were reached in the transition of power.

(Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient Today)

In Damascus' Umayyad Square, the mood is celebratory. Syrians are immortalizing these historic moments by taking photos – just two days after the fall of Bashar al-Assad – perched on tanks or in the company of rebels. 

According to the state-run National News Agency (NNA), the body of a child was found during searches near the house bombed about two months ago in Maaysra, a Shiite village in Keserwan.

The Ani did not provide further details on the precise location where the body was discovered in this locality, which was targeted twice in ten days by the Israeli army during the war.

In south Lebanon, Israeli artillery fired several shells on the outskirts of the towns of Shihine and Jibbein (Sour), according to L'Orient Today's correspondent.

Photo relayed by L'Orient Today's correspondent Michel Hallak.

The unexploded projectile that crashed into a house in Qleiat, Akkar, during the night. 

Israel carried out more than 300 airstrikes on Syria since the rebels took control of Damascus and overthrew President Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said in an updated tally reported by AFP.

The organization, which relies on a vast network of sources across Syria, says it has recorded "nearly 310 strikes" carried out by Israel since the announcement of the fall of Bashar al-Assad on Sunday morning, with AFP journalists in Damascus reporting explosions early Tuesday.

In a statement released overnight, Hezbollah condemned the Israeli offensive on the Golan Heights in Syria and its strikes on Syrian military infrastructure.

"The persistent crimes committed by the Zionist enemy on Syrian territory, whether by occupying more lands in the Golan Heights or by striking and destroying the defense capabilities of the Syrian state, constitute a blatant aggression and a shameless violation of the sovereignty of the Syrian state and people, as well as an attempt to destabilize this brotherly country," the statement read.

"This aggressive occupation of Syrian territories comes at a time when the Zionist army continues its aggression against Lebanon and its daily violations and attacks against Gaza," the party further stressed, calling for rejecting and confronting this aggression.

"We call on the world, especially the Arab and Islamic worlds, to take firm positions against these crimes and to exert pressure in all political and legal fields to end this series of attacks, because all the justifications put forward by the enemy are false claims," ​​Hezbollah continued, judging that all Israeli actions in the Golan since 1967 could only be described as occupation. It finally called for preserving the unity of the Syrian territory.

In south Lebanon, there were explosions in Khiam (Marjayoun) during the night and morning. Israeli soldiers continue to dynamite houses, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent, who reported that detonations were heard as far away as Nabatieh at 11:30 p.m. Monday night and at 7 a.m. this morning. Thick smoke could be seen above the town this morning.

A missile crashed without exploding on a house in Qleiat, in Akkar in North Lebanon, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent.

According to them, the projectile fell around 2 a.m., while Israeli jets were flying over the area, probably to carry out strikes in Syria. The incident did not cause any casualties but caused significant damage to the building it hit.

A patrol of the army and security forces went to the scene, awaiting the presence of the military expert responsible for inspecting the area and taking measures to recover the missile.

Loud explosions rang out in Damascus on Tuesday, according to AFP journalists, shortly after the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported around 250 Israeli strikes on Syria since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday.

About 100 of these raids took place in the last 12 hours, according to Rami Abdel-Rahman, director of the British-based organization, who told DPA that the strikes "were the most intense in the history of Syria."

Al Mayadeen also reported that Israeli tanks have passed Quneitra in southern Syria and are now 3 kilometers from the town of Qatana, located about 20 kilometers from the outskirts of Damascus. Another report claimed that the Israeli army has also captured several villages south of the Syrian capital.

On Tuesday, the White Helmets, Syrian rescuers, announced the end of search operations in Saydnaya prison, where they suspected the existence of underground dungeons, without having found any prisoners.

"The White Helmets announce the conclusion of the search operations ... without having discovered any secret or hidden places in this prison," they said in a statement. Thousands of people had been gathered around the prison since Sunday, the day Damascus fell, waiting for news of their missing relatives.

The Islamist rebels who overthrew the regime vowed on Tuesday to punish those responsible for "torture against the people" under the former government while preparing their formal takeover of power.

Make sure to read the Morning Brief so you are caught up with what has been happening.

Morning Brief

Lebanese detainees in Syria return home and Israel takes positions in Syria: Everything you need to know this Tuesday

Good morning!

Thank you for joining us for our live coverage of the ongoing events in the region.