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The announcement by rebels who ousted Syria's president Bashar al-Assad that they had appointed a transitional head of government brings "new hope", the World Health Organization said Tuesday.

"The appointment in the last few hours of transitional government in the Syrian Arab Republic is bringing new hope to a country that has suffered so much," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva.

A Syria war monitor said Tuesday that Islamic State group jihadists killed 54 government soldiers who were fleeing in the central province of Homs as Islamist-led rebels pressed an offensive.

IS jihadists captured "personnel fleeing military service in the dessert... during the collapse of the regime" of president Bashar al-Assad and "executed 54" of them in the Sukhna area in the Homs desert, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

US officials are pushing hard to learn as much as they can about Austin Tice, the American journalist captured in Syria 12 years ago, White House spokesperson John Kirby said on Tuesday.

Kirby told reporters the situation in Syria could "present an opportunity for us to glean more information about him, his whereabouts, his condition," adding that US officials assumed Tice was alive and had no information to the contrary.

Tice, a former US Marine and a freelance journalist, was 31 when he was abducted in August 2012 while reporting in Damascus on the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted by Syrian rebels who seized the capital Damascus on Sunday. Syria had denied he was being held.

Former Syrian Foreign Minister Bassam al-Sabbagh has expressed shock by the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime after days of rebel offensives.

In an interview with Saudi-funded Al Arabiya, the former diplomat claimed that Assad had asked long-time allies Russia and Iran to save him when the operation to oust him began in late November.

Speaking to the outlet by phone from Damascus, Sabbagh said "he did not attend" Assad's most recent meetings with Russian and Iranian officials in the weeks and days leading up to his overthrow.

He said that he had offered Assad "an initiative to launch a political process" to resolve the situation, but that Assad did not respond.

Read more here.

The Israeli military targeted at least six Syrian naval vessels in an attack on the Syrian port of Latakia on Monday, British security firm Ambrey said on Tuesday.

Ambrey said video footage showed one naval vessel listing and that five others had been sunk, without any visible damage being done to the port's infrastructure.

A Syrian security sources told Reuters on Monday that Israel's military had targeted an air defence installation near Latakia. The attack followed the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad but rebel forces. 

Satellite imagery show that Russian naval ships have left Moscow's base at Tartous on Syria's coast and some have dropped anchor offshore following the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad by rebel forces.

An image taken on Dec. 9 by Planet Labs showed at least three vessels in Russia’s Mediterranean fleet, including two guided missile frigates and an oiler, moored around 13 km (eight miles) northwest of Tartous. The rest of the fleet could not be immediately located in satellite imagery.

In Moscow, Russia's defence ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Moscow, which was an ally of the Assad regime for decades, is now scrambling to make a deal with the rebels to guarantee the safety of two strategically important military bases.

Russia has a major air base in the coastal city of Latakia and its naval facility at Tartous.

The Tartous base is Russia's only Mediterranean repair and replenishment hub, and Moscow has used Syria as a staging post to fly its military contractors in and out of Africa.

Previously, Russia had five surface ships and one submarine at Tartous, according to an analysis of satellite imagery by BlackSky and Planet Labs. An image taken on Dec. 5 by BlackSky showed all six vessels at the base. The Dec. 9 satellite images confirm earlier reports by Russian war blogger “Rybar� that the warships had left Tartous and taken up position off the coast for security reasons.

The fleet departed from the naval base sometime between Dec. 6 and Dec. 9, satellite imagery indicated. 

Israeli naval missile ships destroyed the Syrian military fleet in an operation on Monday night as part of a broad campaign to eliminate strategic threats to Israel, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday, during a visit to a naval base in Haifa.

In a statement he said Israeli forces were establishing themselves in the buffer zone between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and said he had ordered a "sterile defensive zone" to be created in southern Syria, without a permanent Israeli presence, to prevent any terrorist threat to Israel. 

Lebanon must not become a safe haven for Syrian officials who are responsible for crimes, a leading Lebanese political party warned on Tuesday, citing reports that leading figures in Bashar al-Assad's ousted regime had fled to neighbouring Lebanon.

The Progresssive Socialist Party (PSP), led by Lebanon's Jumblatt family, called on Lebanese state institutions to prevent the country from becoming a refuge for such officials so Lebanon "does not bear legal and political repercussions".

"After news of some leaders of the ousted regime in Syria fleeing to Lebanon through legal crossings, or crossing from Lebanon to other countries, the Progressive Socialist Party warns of the danger of turning Lebanon into a safe haven for those responsible for many crimes against Lebanese and Syrians," the PSP said in a statement.

Turkey's top diplomat Hakan Fidan said Tuesday Ankara would reopen its embassy in Damascus when conditions allow following the ouster of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad.

At a gathering of Turkish diplomats in Ankara, Fidan was asked whether Turkey was planning to reopen its embassy in the Syrian capital, which closed a year into the civil war that began in 2011.

"We will look into it. We'll wait for the conditions to be right," he told delegates.

The embassy closed on March 26, 2012 due to the deteriorating security situation and amid calls by the Turkish government for Assad to step down.

The UN special envoy for Syria said on Tuesday European nations should not rush to repatriate refugees to the country following the fall of Bashar al-Assad's government, and he urged foreign players, including Israel, not to intervene militarily.

Syria remained in disorder three days after Assad's overthrow, with conflict continuing in the northeast and Israel bombing targets and expanding its buffer zone inside the country.

"The situation in Syria is still fluid," Geir Pedersen told a news conference at the United Nations' Geneva headquarters.

While many Syrians were eager to return home, "there are livelihood challenges still. The humanitarian situation is disastrous. The economy has collapsed."

News of Assad's fall prompted politicians in several European countries to call for a pause to the processing of asylum applications or even for the repatriation of refugees from 13 years of conflict.

Tehran said Tuesday it had brought home 4,000 Iranian citizens from Syria following the ouster of its ally Bashar al-Assad as rebels took over Damascus.

"Over the past three days, 4,000 Iranian citizens were returned to Iran," Fatemeh Mohajerani, the spokeswoman for Iran's government, said at a press conference in the capital.

She added that Iran would keep up its efforts "until the departure of the last Iranian" in Syria.

Around 10,000 Iranian citizens had been living in Syria in recent years, according to official figures.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards sent "military advisers" to Syria to help Assad during the civil war that broke out in 2011.

Members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the 'Salvation Government' have been holding a meeting with the newly appointed prime minister Mohammed al-Bashir to discuss the transitional government in Syria.

According to Arabic media reports, al-Bashir will head a caretaker government for three months in which new political and state structures will be orchestrated including a review of the country's security and military systems.

The Salvation Government includes ministers from Aleppo province where HTS controlled since 2016.

Qatari officials are in contact with the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which spearheaded the ouster of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, an official briefed on the developments told AFP on Tuesday.

"The Qataris have established the first channel of communication with HTS. Communication with HTS and Qatari diplomats are expected to continue in the next 24 hours with Al Bashir," the official said on condition of anonymity, referring to senior rebel Mohammed Bashir.

Syria's rebel command has ordered its fighters to withdraw from cities and ordered the deployment of police units and internal security forces affiliated with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), two sources close to the rebels told Reuters on Tuesday. 

With congratulations and tears, Palestinians were predominately joyful over the liberation of Syria from the regime of Bashar al-Assad after more than five decades of dictatorial rule against the Syrian people.

Many Palestinians described to °®Âþµº that the events in Syria were "a real victory over injustice, tyranny and corruption".

On Sunday, 8 December, Syria's army command notified officers that former dictator Bashar al-Assad's rule has ended, a Syrian officer told Reuters, following a rapid rebel offensive that took the world by surprise. Soon after, Syrians rushed to the streets to celebrate, while thousands rushed to the prisons to release the prisoners. 

Videos spread widely on social media platforms to document the current historic moments. Besides the celebrations, Syrians documented sad moments when they released their prisoners; some of them disappeared in Assad's jails for decades. 

"I am happy for the Syrian people with this great achievement [...] The horrific scenes we saw of Syrian prisoners who spent years of their lives in prisons without any hope of freedom one day made us cry," Mohammed Abdullah, a Palestinian man in Gaza, told TNA. 

Read more from °®Âþµº's Gaza correspondent here.

Turkey on Tuesday accused Israel of an "occupying mentality" after its forces entered a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights after the ouster of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad.

"We strongly condemn Israel's entry into the separation zone between Israel and Syria," a foreign ministry statement said, reiterating support for Syria's "sovereignty, political unity and territorial integrity".

"In this sensitive period, when the possibility of achieving the peace and stability the Syrian people have desired for many years has emerged, Israel is once again displaying its occupying mentality."

The Golan Heights is a mountainous plateau at Syria's southwestern edge, most of which was captured by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War. Israel later annexed the territory.

It is separated from the Syrian side by a buffer zone patrolled by UN troops.

Israel on Saturday said its forces entered the buffer zone to defend UN peacekeepers as Islamist-led rebels swiftly advanced across Syria, in what Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has insisted was a "limited and temporary step" for "security reasons".

Qatar considers it unacceptable for Israel to "exploit" the current situation in Syria and violate its sovereignty, Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said in a press conference on Tuesday.

Asked about any communication with Syria's leading rebel faction, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Al-Ansari said Qatar's doors are open to all concerned parties in Syria.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and other armed groups that have swept Syrian president Bashar al-Assad from power have sent "good messages" to Syrians, the UN envoy for Syria said Tuesday.

"The realities so far is that the HTS and also the other armed groups have been sending good messages to the Syrian people. They have been sending messages of unity, of inclusiveness," Geir Pedersen told reporters in Geneva.

Strikes that a Syrian war monitor said were carried out by Israel in Damascus's Barzeh area have completely destroyed a defence ministry research centre, AFP correspondents saw Tuesday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had reported Monday that "Israeli warplanes launched over 100 strikes... including on the Barzeh scientific research centre". Western countries including the United States struck the facility in 2018, saying it was related to Syria's "chemical weapons infrastructure".

The UN special envoy for Syria on Tuesday called on Israel to halt its military movements and bombardments inside Syria, days after the fall of president Bashar al-Assad.

"We are continuing to see Israeli movements and bombardments into Syrian territory. This needs to stop. This is extremely important," Geir Pedersen told reporters in Geneva.

Qatar's foreign ministry said on Tuesday supplies of food, medicines and other essential items had arrives in Gazientep in Turkey to make its way to Syria.

The Qatar Fund for Development has established an "air bridge" to provide relief for Syrians and "address humanitarian conditions there".

Under HH the Amir's Directives, Qatar Operates Humanitarian Air Bridge to Syria

— Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN)

An Israeli military spokesperson on Tuesday denied that Israeli forces had penetrated into Syrian territory beyond the buffer zone with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights after Syrian sources said the incursion had reached up to 25 km from the capital Damascus.

"It's not true, the forces have not left the buffer zone," the spokesperson said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Reuters reported that an Israeli military incursion into southern Syria reached about 25 km (16 miles) southwest of capital Damascus, citing two regional security sources and one Syrian security source.

Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 19 Palestinians overnight and on Tuesday, medics said, as Israeli tanks pushed into areas in central and southern parts of the enclave.

Overnight, an Israeli airstrike killed at least 10 people in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, where Israeli forces have operated since October, and wounded dozens of others in a multi-floored building, medics said.

Another airstrike on a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip killed at least seven people. It wounded several others, medics and the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said, while another killed two people in Rafah south of the enclave.

In Deir Al-Balah city in central Gaza, Israeli naval forces detained six Palestinian fishermen who tried to sail into the Mediterranean Sea earlier on Tuesday, according to residents.

A monitor of Syria's war said Tuesday it had recorded more than 300 Israeli strikes since rebels toppled the country's longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad over the weekend.

"The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has been able to document around 310 strikes" carried out by "Israeli warplanes" since the announcement of the fall of Assad on Sunday morning, the monitor said, while AFP journalists in the capital reported hearing loud explosions early Tuesday.