đŽ Syria's Islamist rebels, who took the world by surprise by toppling President Bashar al-Assad in a lightning offensive, had planned this operation a year ago, one of their military commanders told the Guardian, cited by AFP.
In an interview published on Friday by the British newspaper, Abu Hassan al-Hamwi, military commander of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and former head of the Islamist group's military wing, spoke at length about the background to the operation that ended President Assad's 24 years of merciless rule.
On his X account, the Israeli army's Arabic-speaking spokesman Avichay Adraee asserted that Israel âis not a party to Syrian internal affairs and does not interfere,â but that it âhas a long hand and remains vigilant with regard to all those who may threaten its security or that of its citizens.â
The European Union intends to enter into contact âsoonâ with the new government in Syria, according to a European official quoted by AFP.
Iraq "expects actions and not words" from the new government in Syria, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Soudani said, quoted by AFP.
After a meeting in Baghdad with U.S. Foreign Minister Antony Blinken, he stressed "the importance of friendly nations helping the Syrians rebuild their state."
"Iraq expects concrete actions, not just words, from those who are managing the transition phase in Syria."
In the immense courtyard of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, where thousands of demonstrators converged in the early hours of Friday, the day of weekly prayer, the demonstrators chanted in unison "The Syrian people are united" making the victory sign, a scene unimaginable just a week ago when Bashar al-Assad was in power.
In front of the mosque, there is a sense of celebration and celebration. Many are waving the three-star independence flag, a symbol of the 2011 pro-democracy uprising, now adopted by the new authorities, AFP journalists noted.
"Syria has been liberated, we have been freed from the prison we were living in," Nour al-Ghina, 38, exclaimed from the courtyard of the famous mosque. "This is the first time we have gathered in such large numbers in one place, the first time we have witnessed such a scene. We never imagined that such a day would come."
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Iraq's prime minister during an unannounced visit to Baghdad as he seeks to coordinate a regional approach to the situation in Syria following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, AFP reports.
The top U.S. diplomat, who began his tour in Jordan on Thursday, flew to the Iraqi capital from the Turkish capital Ankara and met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Soudani, an AFP journalist accompanying him noted.
(Credit: Caroline Hayek/L'Orient Today)
Thousands of Syrians gathered in Umayyad Square in Damascus, responding to the call of Abu Mohammed al-Jolani who encouraged them to "take to the streets to express their joy" following the fall of the Assad regime on Dec. 8.
The new Syrian authorities, in place since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, have sent a "constructive signal" to the U.N. refugee agency by asking it to remain in Syria, the organization said.
"We have been able to have contacts with the interim authorities," said the representative of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Syria, Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, at a UN press briefing. "The first signals they are sending us are constructive," he added, from Damascus.
The EU announced the launch of a humanitarian airlift to Syria via Turkey, the first European aid of this type since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad, reports AFP.
"The EU-funded aid flights will carry a total of 50 tons of medical supplies from EU stocks in Dubai, which will be transported to Adana, Turkey, for distribution across the border in the coming days," the Commission said in a statement.
The King of Bahrain, who is chairing the current session of the Arab summit, said he was ready to cooperate with the new authorities in Syria in a letter addressed to Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, published by the state-run news agency, AFP reports.
In this letter addressed to Ahmed al-Sharaa, the real name of the head of the new coalition in power in Damascus, King Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa affirmed that his country was ready "to continue consultations and coordination with Syria," according to BNA.
Thousands of Syrians are converging on this day of weekly prayer towards the famous Umayyad Mosque in Damascus where Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, the head of the armed coalition dominated by Islamists who have taken power, is expected, AFP journalists have noted.
Men, women and children poured into the mosque courtyard in their thousands, an unprecedented gathering in the Syrian capital. Many of them waved the three-star flag, a symbol of the 2011 pro-democracy uprising that has now been adopted by the new authorities.
In the morning, the head of the armed coalition that took power in Damascus, Jolani, called on Syrians to take to the streets en masse to celebrate the "victory of the revolution."
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi expressed "deep concern" over the situation in Syria alongside his Egyptian counterpart, who is visiting Beijing.
China had strengthened ties with Bashar al-Assad in recent years, with the former Syrian leader even making one of his rare visits to China outside the Middle East last year. The Syrian president met with President Xi Jinping and established a "strategic partnership" with China.
The leader of the Islamist-dominated armed coalition that has seized power in Syria has called on residents to take to the streets en masse to celebrate the "victory of the revolution."
In a video, Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, who now goes by his real name, Ahmad al-Sharaa, "congratulated the Syrian people on the victory of the revolution" and called on people to "take to the streets to express their joy."
Speaking on Telegram, the leader of the radical Sunni Islamist group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) appeared wearing a gray vest and white shirt. He was due to attend the weekly Friday prayers at the famous Umayyad Mosque in Damascus later.
Turkey will "never allow weakness in the fight against the Islamic State," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told US Foreign Minister Anthony Blinken late yesterday evening during their meeting in Ankara.
"As the only NATO country that has fought hand-to-hand against Daesh, Turkey will prevent the efforts of the PKK and its extensions to turn the situation on the ground into an opportunity and will never allow weakness in the fight against ISIS," he said, according to a statement from the Turkish presidency.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the military to "prepare to remain" throughout the winter in the buffer zone between Israel and Syria on the top of the Golan Heights, part of which Israel captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
"Due to what is happening in Syria, it is of paramount security importance to maintain our presence on top of Mount Hermon, and everything must be done to ensure the preparedness of [the army] there, to allow the fighters to stay in this place despite the difficult climatic conditions" during the winter, the minister said in a statement.
Turkey appointed a new head of mission for its long-closed embassy in Damascus, which it vowed to reopen after the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, state news agency Anadolu reported.
Burhan Koroglu has been appointed as the new chargĂ© d'affaires at the Turkish embassy, ââthe agency said, without specifying when he would take up the post.
The U.N. Secretary-General is "very concerned" by the "significant violations" of Syrian sovereignty and territorial integrity, and by Israeli strikes in Syria, his spokesperson said.
Antonio Guterres "is very concerned by the recent significant violations of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The secretary-general is particularly concerned by the hundreds of Israeli strikes in several locations in Syria," said Stephane Dujarric, stressing the "urgent need for de-escalation on all fronts across Syria."
Israel announced hundreds of strikes in recent days against strategic military sites in Syria, where a rebel coalition led by the radical Sunni Islamist group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) toppled Bashar al-Assad on Sunday.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Syrian civilians must be protected. Blinken met for more than an hour in an airport lounge in Ankara last night with Erdogan, who had just met with Hungary's nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
The head of American diplomacy "reiterated the importance that all actors in Syria respect human rights, international humanitarian law and take all possible measures to protect civilians, including members of minority groups," explained State Department spokesman Matthew Miller in a statement.
A Syrian, head of a Damascus prison between 2005 and 2008, and already imprisoned in the United States, has been charged with torture, announced the American federal justice system, a few days after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
Samir Osman Alsheikh, who ran the notorious Adra prison before the Syrian war, is accused by Washington of having himself inflicted "severe physical and mental pain" on detainees, or of having ordered it, according to a statement. The 72-year-old is also accused of having sent detainees to a specific wing of this prison in the capital where they were suspended from the ceiling and beaten at the same time, or of having subjected them to the "German chair" torture, which consists of quartering the prisoner's limbs.
The United Nations humanitarian agency said late last night that more than a million people, mostly women and children, had been displaced in Syria since rebels launched an offensive on Nov. 27 that ousted President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday.
"As of 12 December, 1.1 million people have been newly displaced across the country since the start of the escalation of hostilities on 27 November. The majority of them are women and children," the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement.
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