A picture taken through a tower arrow-slit shows an independence-era Syrian flag fluttering on a defensive wall of the medieval fortress Krak des Chevaliers in Syria's Homs province on Dec. 15, 2024. (Credit: Aaref Watad/AFP)
It has been nine days since Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied rebels ousted president Bashar al-Assad from power in Syria.
His overthrow brought to a stunning end five decades of rule by the Assad regime that was marked by fear and horrific abuses, but it also plunged Syria into the unknown.
Here are some key latest developments in Syria:
Rebel factions to be 'disbanded'
HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani said that all rebel factions in Syria would "be disbanded and the fighters trained to join the ranks of the defense ministry."
"All will be subject to the law," said Jolani, who now uses his real name, Ahmed al-Sharaa, in a message on his group's Telegram channel.
Assad breaks silence
Assad put out his first statement since he was ousted, saying he fled Syria for Russia only after Damascus had fallen, and he denounced the country's new leaders as "terrorists."
"My departure from Syria was neither planned nor did it occur during the final hours of the battles," said the statement on the ousted presidency's Telegram channel.
Former officials had told AFP that Assad was already out of the country hours before the rebels seized Damascus.
Trump reacts
US President-elect Donald Trump characterised the ousting of Assad as an "unfriendly takeover" by Turkey, which has historically backed the opposition.
"I think Turkey is very smart... Turkey did an unfriendly takeover, without a lot of lives being lost. I can say that Assad was a butcher, what he did to children," Trump told reporters at his residence in Florida.
US, European allies hold talks
Foreign ministers from the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Italy are due to hold talks Tuesday on Syria, Rome has announced.
"We hope that the first positive signals will transform into concrete positive signals," Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Monday that the bloc's envoy to Syria was going to Damascus to talk to the new Islamist-led rulers.
EU nations, like others in the West, are wary of Syria's new leadership, with HTS listed as a "terrorist" group by a number of governments.
Rooted in Syria's branch of Al-Qaeda, HTS has sought to moderate its rhetoric, vowing protection for minorities, peace for the war-ravaged country and justice for victims of Assad's rule.
"We can't leave a vacuum," Kallas said.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said his government had sent senior officials to meet with Syria's new leadership.
U.N. special envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen had earlier met with Jolani as well as interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir.
UN aid call
United Nations humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher, on a visit to Damascus, on Monday said seven out of 10 Syrians were in need of aid.
"We want to get a massive flow of support into Syria, really scale up fast," he said. "Food, medicine, shelter, but also the funds to redevelop the Syria that people can believe in again. We want a hopeful narrative for Syria."
The Syrian pound meanwhile has begun to recover against the dollar, moneychangers and traders said, as foreign currencies again became available on the local market.
Israeli strikes and advances in Golan
Israel has conducted hundreds of strikes in Syria since Assad's overthrow.
On Monday, a war monitor said Israeli strikes targeted military sites in Syria's coastal Tartus region.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the strikes were "the heaviest" in the area in years.
Tartus is also home to a Russian-controlled port. Islamist fighters manning a nearby checkpoint told AFP they were under orders not to approach the Russian forces, which had long backed Assad.
Israel has also ordered troops into the U.N.-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, a move the U.N. said violated a 1974 armistice.
On Sunday, the Israeli government unanimously approved a plan to increase the population of the annexed Golan Heights.
The government "unanimously approved" the 40 million shekel ($11 million) "plan for the demographic development of the Golan... in light of the war and the new front in Syria and the desire to double the population," Netanyahu's office said.
Israel has occupied most of the Syrian Golan Heights, a strategic plateau, since 1967 and annexed that area in 1981, a move recognized only by the United States.
The U.N. and several governments, including Germany, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey swiftly denounced the Israeli move calling it a violation of international law.