U.S. military announces it has killed 12 Islamic State members in strikes in Syria: Live updates of developments in Syria

The Lebanese Foreign Affairs Ministry has strongly condemned the Israeli government's decision “to expand settlement in the occupied Syrian Golan.”

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy has announced that London has sent an official delegation to Syria to meet the new interim authorities in Syria, led by the radical Islamist group Hay'at Tahrir al-Cham (HTS), following the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

“I can confirm today that we have sent a delegation of senior British officials to Damascus for a meeting with the new interim Syrian authorities,” said the head of diplomacy at a press conference in London.

London has sent an official delegation to Damascus to meet the new authorities, announced the head of diplomacy quoted by AFP.

U.S. Army Central Command said its forces killed 12 Islamic State terrorists in precision strikes on camps in Syria on Monday, as well as known operatives of the terrorist organization.

“CENTCOM, working with our allies and partners in the region, will not allow the Islamic State to reconstitute itself and take advantage of the current situation in Syria,” said General Michael Erik Kurilla.

U.S. President Donald Trump has called Turkey an “unfriendly takeover” of Syria.

“Turkey is very smart. He's a smart guy, and he's very tenacious,” Trump told a press conference, presumably alluding to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, before adding, ”Turkey did an unfriendly takeover without a lot of lives being lost. I can say that Assad was a butcher.”

Russia and Iran “must have no place” in the Syria of tomorrow, said the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, in Brussels.

Kallas said that the EU would raise the issue of the future of Russian military bases in Syria with the new leadership in Damascus, pointing out that several EU foreign ministers wanted the new leaders to demand that the Russians leave.

“Many ministers have mentioned this, that this should be a condition for the new power, that they should get rid of Russian influence,” because this influence is also exerted in Africa and in the region, she said at the end of a meeting of EU heads of diplomacy in Brussels.

Kallas also confirmed that the EU ambassador to Syria, until now resident in Beirut, had left today for Damascus to meet the Islamist rebels now in power there. However, she did not specify whether he would be meeting Abu Mouhammad al-Jolani, the head of HTS.

Two Palestinian officials told AFP they had been contacted to help Israel locate the remains in Syria of notorious spy Eli Cohen and an Israeli soldier missing since 1982.

“Contact has been established with us via mediators to help locate the remains of an Israeli soldier missing since 1982,” a Damascus-based official told AFP. According to this source, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitive nature of the case, “contacts are also underway to determine the burial place of Israeli agent Eli Cohen."

Another Palestinian official, based outside Syria and who also requested anonymity, said that mediation was taking place through the Russians and with Palestinian officials based abroad.

Caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said he had ordered the reopening of the Lebanese embassy in Damascus, which had closed due to the latest developments.

In his statement, Bashar al-Assad claimed that the state is now "in the hands of terrorism."

In his statement, Bashar al-Assad claimed that the state is now "in the hands of terrorism."

 Bashar al-Assad claimed that Russia has requested his "evacuation" from Damascus, in his statement.

⚡ Ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad assured, in first statement since the fall of the regime, that he did not flee "premeditatedly" when Damascus fell, AFP reported. 

A team of Turkish rescuers began an in-depth search of Syria's infamous Sednaya prison on Monday, a spokesman for Turkey's AFAD disaster management agency told AFP.

"Our president Okay Memis will hold a press conference at around 1:30 pm (10:30 GMT) outside Sednaya prison and give details of the search that will be carried out," said AFAD press relations adviser Kubilay Ozyurt. Around 80 AFAD rescue workers, equipped with "advanced search equipment", will begin working in the prison to find any inmates still trapped there, Turkey's state-run Anadolu agency reported.

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The Kremlin has indicated that the future of its military bases in Syria has not yet been decided, with Moscow trying to maintain them despite the flight of its ally, ex-president Bashar al-Assad, overthrown by rebels.

"We are in contact with representatives of the forces that now control the situation in the country," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a press briefing.

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Syria's Kurds, who run a semi-autonomous administration in the northeast, called for an end to all fighting in the country and extended a hand to the new authorities in Damascus.

Today at a press conference in Raqa, Hussein Othman, the head of the administration's executive council, called for "a stop to military operations over the entire Syrian territory in order to begin a constructive, comprehensive national dialogue."

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The Syrian port of Latakia is operating and ships are unloading their cargoes normally, Hassan Jablaoui, head of port infrastructure, told Reuters, after major Israeli strikes along the Syrian coast overnight, and a week after the fall of the Assad regime.

The Syrian pound has strengthened against the U.S. dollar by at least 20% over the past two days amid an influx of Syrians from neighboring Lebanon and Jordan and an end to strict controls on trade in foreign currencies after the fall of the Assad government.

Damascus currency traders cited exchange rates between 12,500 and 10,0000 on Saturday, a wide spread of between 20% and 50% stronger than the previous rate of 15,000, with high volatility in the market.

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Israel is seeking to "expand its borders through occupation" with plans to double the population of the annexed Syrian Golan Heights, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement relayed by AFP.

"We strongly condemn Israel's decision to expand illegal settlements on the Golan Heights occupied since 1967. This decision is a new stage in Israel's goal of expanding its borders through occupation," the ministry said.

"This step by Israel is a source of grave concern, taken together with Israel’s entry into the area of separation in violation of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement, its advance into adjacent areas and airstrikes in Syria," it said, warning the move would "seriously undermine" efforts to bring stability to Syria after Bashar al-Assad's ouster.

The U.N. envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, stressed the need for a "credible and inclusive" transition in Syria in his meeting with the leader of the Islamist group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, head of the coalition that toppled Bashar al-Assad's rule.

Pedersen met them after Saturday's international meeting on Syria in Jordan, and stressed "the need for a credible and inclusive Syrian-owned and led political transition based on the principles of United Nations Security Council resolution 2254 (2015)."

He also underlined "the intention of the United Nations to render all assistance to the Syrian people," and was briefed on their "challenges and priorities," the statement added.

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The Russian news agency Tass reported that "the Russian ambassador to Syria, Alexander Yefimov, is in Damascus and continues to carry out his duties."

A source at the Russian Embassy told the agency: "The ambassador is on site."

On Sunday, a week after the fall of its ally Bashar al-Assad, Kremlin diplomacy announced the withdrawal of some of its Damascus mission staff and their repatriation to Russia. It specified that "the embassy continues to operate in the Syrian capital." "On Dec. 15, part of the staff of the Russian [diplomatic] representation in Damascus was withdrawn on a special Russian air force flight ... from the Hmeimim air base in Syria," said the Russian Foreign Ministry's Crisis Situations Department.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said today the bloc's envoy to Syria was going to Damascus to talk to the new Islamist-led rulers, as Western powers stepped up engagement after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad, reported AFP. 

"Our top diplomat in Syria will go to Damascus today. We'll have the contacts there," Kallas told journalists ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

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In Lebanon, caretaker Social Affairs Minister Hector Hajjar held a videoconference yesterday with U.N. representatives to coordinate a rapid response to the new crisis involving displaced Syrians and Lebanese from Syria. The meeting followed the Minister’s tour of the Baalbeck-Hermel district with international organizations, according to the National News Agency (NNA).

(Credit: Photo obtained by our correspondent Michel Hallak)

Violent Israeli strikes targeted military sites in Syria’s coastal Tartus region overnight, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported, citing AFP.

According to SOHR, Israeli fighter jets hit several sites military sites, including air defense units and surface-to-surface missile depots, describing the bombardments as "the heaviest strikes since 2012" in this region, which also hosts a Russian naval base.

The strikes were heard and seen from the Akkar region in northern Lebanon, with resident photos showing fireballs rising from the affected areas, as reported by our correspondent Michel Hallak.

Initially cautious, foreign governments are stepping up their efforts to establish contact with the new Islamist government in Syria, a week after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

To learn more about which governments have made contact with Syria, click here.👈

During their meeting, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, now using his real name, Ahmad al-Shareh, and Geir Pedersen discussed "changes in the political landscape that make it necessary to review" U.N. Security Council Resolution 2254, according to a statement on Telegram. Adopted in 2015, the resolution outlines a roadmap for a political settlement in Syria.

U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen met yesterday with Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, leader of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist group heading the rebel coalition that ousted Bashar al-Assad, according to a statement from the coalition on Telegram, later reported by AFP.

Earlier in the day, Pedersen emphasized the urgent need for increased humanitarian aid in Syria. “We must ensure Syria receives immediate support for its population and for all refugees wishing to return,” he said. This marks the first visit by a senior U.N. official since Assad fled to Russia.

Good morning ☀

Thank you for joining our live coverage of events in Syria, following the fall of the Assad regime on Sunday, Dec. 8.

Catch up on the weekend's key events and today’s updates in our Morning Brief👈