Syrian HTS leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani told Reuters in a written statement that he would dissolve the security forces of Bashar al-Assad.
He also said his group now rules most of Syria and was working with international organizations to secure possible sites where chemical weapons may be located.
The Israeli army announced, through its Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee, that it had "seized Syrian tanks" along with other "weapons of war (...) including mines, improvised explosive devices, anti-armor missiles, and other military equipment." It unilaterally justified these actions as necessary to protect its territory and population.
The army detailed that "combat teams from the brigade, composed of infantry, commandos, engineering units, armored units, Yahalom (special combat engineering units), and reconnaissance, are operating as part of a proactive advanced defense mission under the command of the 210th Division." It further stated that the unit responsible for seizing the Syrian tanks "continues to operate at checkpoints within the buffer zone. The troops are addressing threats along the border line and monitoring terrorist targets."
Israel's Home Front Command announced on Wednesday that it had lifted restrictions on gatherings for communities in the northern Golan Heights region, Haaretz reported.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Jordan and Turkey to discuss developments in Syria, the U.S. State Department’s spokesperson Matthew Miller wrote on X.
During the trip, which will take place from Wednesday to Friday, “the Secretary will emphasize the importance of an inclusive, Syrian-led transition which respects human rights, protects civilians, and ensures humanitarian access,” Miller wrote.
The Syrian Civil Defence has said there was no leakage of chemical substances in the al-Qutayfah area near Damascus after an Israeli bombing had sparked fear of harmful substances having been released.
The civil defense said a specialized team headed to the location after receiving reports of a yellow cloud over the area, but found no traces of chemical vapors.
Baalbeck-Hermel Governor Bashir Khodr highlighted the arrival of a significant number of displaced people, both Syrian and Lebanese, to northern Baalbek-Hermel through unauthorized crossings. He noted the Lebanese Army's continuous efforts to secure the borders despite limited resources, emphasizing the need for enhanced support. Khodr also mentioned the return of 1,500 Syrian refugees from Arsal to Syria, with their tents permanently dismantled to prevent re-entry.
Two killed and one injured in an Israeli drone strike targeted the al-Ouwaini neighborhood in the town of Bint Jbeil, accompanied by bursts of gunfire directed toward the area, our correspondent in the South reported.
"Caution prevails along Lebanon’s northern borders after the Syrian regime's collapse and the opposition’s takeover, with official crossings closed and abandoned amid chaos," according to our correspondent in the north. The Lebanese Army has re-enforced its presence near the Arida crossing in the north, our correspondent also noted.
France “calls on Israel to withdraw from the buffer zone” established between Israel and Syria, as well as “to respect Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Foreign Ministry reported, according to AFP.
“Any military deployment in the separation zone between Israel and Syria constitutes a violation of the 1974 disengagement agreement, which must be respected by its signatories, Israel and Syria,” it added, after the incursion of Israeli forces into this zone, located on the edge of the part of the Golan Heights occupied and annexed by Israel.
The Syrian rebels also announced in a statement on their Telegram account the end of the curfew in Damascus, which had been imposed since Sunday from 4 p.m. to 5 a.m. In the same text, they called on “the Syrian people” to return to work as normal and “contribute to building a new Syria.”
⚡️ Syria's rebel leader said Wednesday that officials involved in torturing detainees will not be pardoned, after thousands were released while families hoped to find others who disappeared in the country's notorious jails, reports AFP.
"We will not pardon those involved in torturing detainees," said Islamist Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham group leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, now using his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, urging "countries to hand over any of those criminals who may have fled so they can be brought to justice."
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Jordan and Turkey for crisis talks on Syria, according to the State Department, reports AFP.
A Syrian national flag and a portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad torn apart by anti-government fighters in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Nov. 30, 2024 . (Credit: Omar Haj Kadour/AFP)
From father to son, the Assad name is synonymous with blood. That's why nothing about this regime was salvageable, nor was anything worth saving.
A look back at the history of one of the bloodiest regimes of the 21st century. Read it here.
The head of German diplomacy has urged Turkey and Israel not to jeopardize the peaceful transition in Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad on Sunday, reports AFP.
“If we want a peaceful Syria, the territorial integrity of the country must not be called into question, and neighbors such as the Turkish and Israeli governments, who assert security interests, must not jeopardize the process with their actions,” Annalena Baerbock said at a press briefing in Berlin.
(Credit: Aaref Watad/AFP)
Rebel fighters pose with the revolutionary flag at the mausoleum of former president Hafez al-Assad, which was burnt down shortly beforehand, in Qardaha, the Assad family's home village in the western Syrian province of Latakia.
Greece, the country of entry into the European Union for many refugees, has temporarily suspended the examination of asylum applications from Syrians, said Migration Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos, following in the footsteps of many of its European partners.
“We are temporarily freezing ... all procedures [for asylum requests from Syrians] until we can assess the new political data” in Syria following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, he said on Real FM radio.
🔴 Former Syrian president Hafez al-Assad's tomb was was set on fire, reports AFP.
Qatar announces the reopening “soon” of its embassy in Syria, according to AFP.
The United Nations humanitarian agency (OCHA) has reported that its partners in Syria have identified 52 minefields across the country since the beginning of December.
These fields “hinder the movement of civilians and prevent the delivery of goods and services,” according to OCHA, and are of particular concern in the context of the large-scale population displacements in the country.
The Kremlin says it wants a “stabilized situation as soon as possible” in Syria, following the fall of its ally Bashar al-Assad, and has condemned Israel's strikes and deployment near the occupied Golan Heights, AFP reports.
“We would like the situation in the country to be stabilized as soon as possible, one way or another,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. The Kremlin also said it was “in contact” with the new authorities regarding Russian bases.
The Prime Minister in charge of Syria's transition, Mohammad al-Bashir, called on Syrians abroad to return home to enable the country “to prosper,” in an interview published Wednesday in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, picked up by AFP.
“Their human capital, their experience will enable the country to prosper. I appeal to all Syrians abroad: Syria is now a free country that has earned its pride and dignity. Please come back. We need to rebuild, to be reborn, and we need everyone's help,” declared Bashir.
🔴 The Prime Minister in charge of Syria's transition, Mohammad al-Bashir, has assured that the rights of all faiths will be guaranteed in the country, in an interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera picked up by AFP.
Acknowledging “the erroneous behavior of certain Islamist groups," Bachir insisted that “the meaning of Islam, which is the 'religion of justice,' has therefore been distorted.” “It is precisely because we are Islamic that we will guarantee the rights of all peoples and faiths in Syria,” he stressed.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Turkey on Friday to discuss the situation in Syria following the overthrow of dictator Bashar al-Assad, an official Turkish source said, reports AFP. “He will be in Turkey on Friday,” the source said of the visit, which comes five days after the unexpected overthrow of Assad.
For more than a decade, Washington has tried to stay out of the political debacle in Syria, seeing no viable partner, but the Islamist rebel-led lightning offensive that led to the fall of the Assad regime is forcing a rethink.
Read our ☀️Morning Brief☀️ to know what happened yesterday and what to expect today.
Pope Francis called for “friendship and mutual respect” among the various religions in Syria, at the end of his general audience in St. Peter's Square, reports AFP. Speaking of “this delicate moment in its history,” he expressed the wish that “the Syrian people may live in peace and security in their beloved land, and that the various religions may walk together in friendship and mutual respect.”
He also called for “a political solution that can responsibly promote the stability and unity of the country without further conflict and division.”
Pro-Kurdish forces announce Washington-brokered truce with pro-Turkish fighters in Manbij, reports AFP.
⚡Syria: Assad's fall won't weaken Iran, assures Iran's supreme guide, according to AFP.
In a message on X, Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee once again indicated that the border strip in southern Lebanon, bounded by the villages of Shebaa, Hebbarieh, Marjayoun, Arnoun, Yohmor, Qantara, Shaqra, Braasheet, Yater and Mansouri, remained off-limits to the Lebanese “until further notice."
Overnight in southern Lebanon, the Israeli army also dynamited homes in Kfar Kila, also in the Marjayoun district.
In southern Lebanon, which continues to be hit by Israeli fire despite the cease-fire that has been in force for two weeks to the day, the Lebanese Army is due to deploy later today in the northern district of Khiam, in Marjayoun. Khiam has been heavily bombed by the Israeli air force and has been at the center of several weeks of fighting between the Israeli army and Hezbollah fighters. The Israeli army, which was given 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon under the cease-fire agreement, is still deployed in certain parts of the town.
According to information from our correspondent Mountasser Abdallah, Lebanese Army engineering units are due to enter northern Khiam to clear roads closed by rubble. The troops will also recover unexploded missiles for safe disposal. Finally, they will mobilize in the rest of the city once the Israeli troops have completely withdrawn. In the morning, detonations were also heard in the locality, where the Israeli army blew up buildings.
The Syrian rebels who seized power in Damascus after ousting Bashar al-Assad, meanwhile, announced that they had seized the city of Deir al-Zor in the east of the country, with an NGO claiming that Kurdish forces present in the city had withdrawn.
“Our forces have seized the entire city of Deir al-Zor,” the rebels said in a statement. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that Kurdish forces had withdrawn towards surrounding localities, before being taken over by local Arab fighters who joined the rebel ranks after their lightning offensive launched on Nov. 27.
In northern Syria, fighting between pro-Ankara and pro-Kurdish forces has claimed 218 lives in three days, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Tuesday.
According to the NGO, “218 members of pro-Kurdish forces and pro-Ankara factions were killed during three days of fighting in and around Manbij,” where the Turkish-backed factions launched an offensive, thanks to which “they were able to enter Manbij and deploy in its area.” The SOHR added that fighting was continuing in the Raqqa region.
With regard to the war in Gaza, the U.N. General Assembly will today vote on a draft resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional cease-fire in the enclave, a symbolic appeal following the American veto of a similar text in the Security Council.
Now accustomed to taking over from the Council, which is largely paralyzed on burning issues such as Gaza and Ukraine, the General Assembly regularly lends its political support to the Palestinians. Barring any surprises, it is expected to adopt a non-binding resolution very similar to the one blocked by the Council in November.
The text calls for “an immediate, unconditional and permanent cease-fire” and “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.” It also calls for “safe and unhindered” access to large-scale humanitarian aid, including in the “besieged” north of Gaza, and denounces any attempt to “starve the Palestinians.”
Good morning!☀️
We are launching our live coverage of the developments in the Middle East, as Bashar al-Assad's regime fell in Syria over the weekend, the war in Gaza continues for 432 days and the cease-fire in Lebanon between Hezbollah and the Israeli army has been in effect for two weeks.
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