°®Âþµº

TNA’s live coverage of the latest from the war on Gaza concludes for today. Join us again at 0800 GMT for updates from the besieged Palestinian enclave.

The UN Security Council will convene Monday afternoon for an emergency closed door meeting regarding Syria in the aftermath of president Bashar al-Assad fleeing the country, multiple diplomatic sources told AFP on Sunday.

The meeting, set for 3:00 pm (2000 GMT), was requested by Russia earlier on Sunday.

At least 26 combattants were killed Sunday as Turkish-backed Syrian fighters launched an offensive on the northern Manbij area, days after seizing a Kurdish-held enclave.

The pro-Turkey fighters had already retaken the Kurdish-held Tal Rifaat enclave last week, days after rebels swooped into government-held areas, snatching key cities before reaching Damascus on Sunday.

"Pro-Turkish factions... seized large districts of Manbij city in the eastern Aleppo countryside, after violent clashes with the Manbij Military Council," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said.

The Council is affiliated with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that act as a de facto army for the Kurdish administration that controls swathes of Syria's northeast.

"The clashes killed nine pro-Turkish fighters and at least 17 Manbij Military Council" combattants, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.

The US-backed SDF also reported "fierce clashes", saying the military councils in Manbij and in Al-Bab were "dealing qualitative blows" to Turkish-backed fighters.

The Ankara-backed factions said they had "taken control of the city of Manbij in the eastern countryside of Aleppo after fierce battles", in a statement on their Telegram channel.

The groups posted videos of the fighters declaring control over Manbij, said to be from inside the area.

The videos could not be independently verified.

Earlier Sunday, SDF commander Mazloum Abdi hailed "historic" moments with the fall of the "authoritarian regime" of President Bashar al-Assad.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Turkish counterpart Yasar Guler discussed safeguarding civilians and upholding humanitarian norms in Syria. 

"We agreed on the importance of Syria’s opposition groups protecting civilians and adhering to international humanitarian norms. We pledged to continue working together to ensure that the instability in Syria does not threaten our Defeat-ISIS mission or our Allies and partners in the region," Austin wrote on X.

"Our countries will continue to work together to defeat terrorism and ensure the security of our forces," he added.

Both nations back opposition groups in Syria, though some factions have clashed during the 13-year civil war.

I spoke with Turkish Minister of National Defense Yasar Guler today to discuss developments in Syria.

We agreed on the importance of Syria’s opposition groups protecting civilians and adhering to international humanitarian norms. We pledged to continue working…

— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef)

David Lammy declared the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s rule "at long last," condemning his brutal atrocities against Syrians. He urged the protection of civilians, including minorities, and called for an inclusive political transition.

HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani celebrated the victory as a win for “all Syrians,� though the implications for Alawites, Christians, and other minorities remain uncertain.

Assad committed brutal atrocities against the Syrian people. At long last, his cruel regime is at an end.

Amid the uncertainty, it is critical civilians are protected, including minorities. Syrians deserve an inclusive political transition and a pathway to peace and security.

— David Lammy (@DavidLammy)

Saudi Arabia called on Sunday for efforts to prevent Syria from falling into disarray after the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad by rebels.

"The kingdom affirms its support for the brotherly Syrian people and their choice," the Saudi foreign ministry said, appealing for "concerted efforts to preserve the unity of Syria and the cohesion of its people, so as to prevent it falling into chaos and division".

"The time has come for the Syrian people to enjoy the dignified life that they deserve," it added in a statement.

In 2012, Saudi Arabia severed ties with Assad's government and championed his ouster, backing Syrian rebels early in the country's civil war.

The Saudi move added to Assad's regional isolation after his government's crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 2011 that triggered Syria's war.

In 2023, Syria rejoined the Arab League, marking its return to the international scene, and Assad's government restored ties with Saudi Arabia, leading to a slow rapprochement with the kingdom.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday claimed the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria as a direct outcome of Israel's actions in the region, something analysts in Israel said was only partially true.

Speaking while under growing domestic pressure over the fate of Israeli hostages in Gaza and a corruption trial, Netanyahu said Assad's demise was "a direct result of the blows we have inflicted on Iran and Hezbollah, Assad's main supporters".

Danny Citrinowicz, a research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, told news agency AFP that while it was true Israel helped precipitate events in Syria, Assad's fall was an unintended consequence.

"It's obvious that what Israel did has definitely led to that, but I doubt that they had a strategy to do so," he said.

Netanyahu warned Assad on November 27, the day Syria's rebel offensive began, that he was "playing with fire" by supporting Hezbollah and helping to transfer weapons to Lebanon.

"But, he never knew that Jolani intended to start an attack," Citrinowicz said, referring to Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the chief of the rebel group that led the offensive in Syria.

"And, of course, nobody calculated how the fact that Iran and Hezbollah were so weakened would damage Assad's ability to protect himself and his regime."

Analysts also pointed to Russia, a key military backer, being distracted by Ukraine as a factor leading to Assad's demise, something that was beyond Netanyahu's control.

Aviv Oreg, an analyst at the Meir Amit Center and a former military intelligence officer, said Netanyahu's claims had some legitimacy.

"It's like dominoes... you topple the first and then the second topples and so on," he told AFP.

He pointed to the strikes against Hezbollah, both in Syria and Lebanon, which Israel escalated dramatically in late September, as being a key factor in Assad's demise.

"Hezbollah had many, many troops in Syria and now they have left or moved away," he said.

But he also drew attention to the Syrian rebels' ability to "conduct such an aggressive offensive".

The Israeli military said Sunday it struck Hezbollah fighters who were at a "weapons storage facility in southern Lebanon, in violation of the ceasefire agreement".

"These terrorists directed and carried out terror attacks against (Israeli) troops and Israeli civilians in recent months," it said in a statement, adding it had struck "numerous Hezbollah" fighters throughout the past day.

Rebels toppling the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad prompted the country's soccer federation to change the colour of the national team's kit and logo from red to green.

Syrian rebels seized the capital Damascus unopposed on Sunday after a lightning advance that sent Assad fleeing to Russia after a 13-year civil war and six decades of his family's autocratic rule.

As the events unfolded, the Syrian soccer federation announced it was changing the colour of its logo and the kit of the men’s first team.

"Our new national team uniform," the Syrian football federation posted on Facebook alongside a photo of several players clad in green.

"The first historic change to happen in the history of Syrian sports, far from nepotism, favouritism and corruption," it added. 

The director of northern Gaza's Kamal Adwan hospital said on Sunday the lives of more than 100 patients were in danger after electricity, oxygen and water supplies were cut.

Hossam Abu Safiyeh said recent Israeli shelling and bombing had severely damaged the hospital and cut the water and electricity supply to parts of it.

"The outage of electricity and water persists, and we urgently appeal to the international community for assistance," he said.

"The situation is extremely dangerous. We have patients in the intensive care unit and others awaiting surgeries. Access to the operating rooms is only possible after restoring electricity and oxygen supply."

Safiyeh said the hospital currently had 112 wounded patients, including six in intensive care and 14 children.

Continued shelling near the hospital was "preventing us from conducting repairs", he said.

Israel on Friday said it was operating around the facility but had not fired directly on the hospital.

Kamal Adwan is located in Beit Lahia, a city at the centre of an intense Israeli military operation.

The hospital is one of the last operational medical facilities in the north of the territory.

The World Health Organization's representative in the Palestinian territories, Rik Peeperkorn, said on Friday the hospital was operating at a "minimum" level.

Israel launched strikes on weapons depots in the country's east on Sunday, a war monitor said, after rebels toppled Bashar al-Assad's government earlier Sunday.

"Israel has conducted air strikes on weapon depots and positions that belonged to the defunct regime and Iran-backed groups in the eastern Deir Ezzor province," Rami Abdel Rahman who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told news agency AFP.

He reported "increased Israeli strikes" on such targets since President Bashar al-Assad fled the country as rebels seized the capital.

American warplanes struck more than 75 Islamic State targets in Syria on Sunday, hitting the group's leaders, operatives and camps, the US military said.

Strikes were carried out against "over 75 targets using multiple US Air Force assets, including B-52s, F-15s, and A-10s," the US Central Command said on social media.

�.�. ������� ������� �������� ������ �� ���������� �� ��������� ���� ����� �� ������� �����

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted dozens of precision airstrikes targeting known ISIS camps and…

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM)

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday that the future of Syria is a matter for the Syrians to determine and that his special envoy Geir Pedersen "will be working with them towards that end."

"There is much work to be done to ensure an orderly political transition to renewed institutions. I reiterate my call for calm and avoiding violence at this sensitive time, while protecting the rights of all Syrians," Guterres said in a statement. 

US President Joe Biden said Sunday that fallen leader Bashar al-Assad should be held responsible for his rule over Syria now that his government has been toppled.

Asked what should happen to the deposed president, who reportedly has fled to Moscow, Biden told reporters that "Assad should be held accountable."

Biden also warned that some of the rebel groups that ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad have "their own grim record of terrorism," adding that Washington would assess if they had moderated.

"Some of the rebel groups that took down Assad have their own grim record of terrorism and human right abuses," Biden said in an address from the White House.

Biden added that the United States had "taken note" of recent statements by rebels suggesting they had since moderated, cautioning "we will assess not just their words, but their actions."

Israel conducted three airstrikes in the Syrian capital on Sunday against a security complex and a government research centre which it has said in the past was used by Iran to develop missiles, two regional security sources told news agency Reuters on Sunday.

Sunday's strikes, on the day rebels overthrew the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, caused extensive damage to the main customs headquarters and buildings adjoining the military intelligence offices within the security complex, which is located in the Kafr Sousa district of Damascus, the sources said.

The research facility was also damaged, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

One of the sources said the strikes had hit infrastructure used to store sensitive military data, equipment and guided missiles parts.

Earlier on Sunday, Israel struck at least seven targets in southwest Syria that included the Khalkhala air base north of Sweida city that Syrian army troops withdrew from last night, the sources said.

They said the army left behind large stockpile of missiles, air defence batteries and munitions that were hit on Sunday.

Strikes near Mezzah military airport southwest of the capital hit other ammunition depots, the sources said.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Sunday the ouster of Bashar al-Assad in Syria showed that Russia and its allies can be defeated, as Poland's neighbour Ukraine battles Moscow's forces.

Moscow had offered military support to help Assad, a key Kremlin ally, crush the opposition in Syria's more than a decade-long civil war.

"The events in Syria have made the world realise once again, or at least they should, that even the most cruel regime may fall and that Russia and its allies can be defeated," Tusk said on social media platform X.

Poland has been a staunch backer of Ukraine since Russia invaded nearly three years ago.

The EU and NATO member serves as a crucial logistics hub for Western military aid to Kyiv.

Ukraine said earlier Sunday that authoritarians who rely on Moscow's aid are destined to fall.

Assad was one of the few leaders who recognised Russia's annexation of Ukraine's four eastern and southern regions in 2022.

The Syrian flag was removed on Sunday from a pole outside the country's embassy in Moscow, Russian news agencies reported.

The flag had been hoisted outside the embassy earlier in the day, the agency said.

TASS also quoted embassy staff as saying the embassy would operate as normal on Monday. It said the embassy provided no explanation for the absence of the flag.

Israeli airstrikes in central Gaza killed at least 14 people including children Sunday, Palestinian health officials said, while the bombing of a hospital in northern Gaza wounded a half-dozen patients.

One airstrike flattened a residential building in the urban Bureij refugee camp Sunday afternoon, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby city of Deir al-Balah, where the casualties were taken.

At least nine people were killed including six children and a woman. 

Earlier on Sunday, another Israeli strike hit a tent in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least five people including two parents and their two children, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said.

In northern Gaza, the Health Ministry said a bombing targeted the Indonesian Hospital wounding six patients, one of them seriously. It is the largest hospital north of Gaza City.

"We demand international protection for hospitals, patients and medical staff," the ministry said in a statement that also urged safe passage to and from hospitals, more medical supplies and fuel and safe evacuation of the wounded.

The Israeli military Sunday evening said it was unaware of any attack on the Indonesian Hospital "in the last three to four hours."

Syrian rebels who toppled president Bashar al-Assad in a lightning offensive have "guaranteed the security" of Russian army bases in the country, a Kremlin source told Russian news agencies Sunday.

"Russian officials are in contact with representatives of the armed Syrian opposition, whose leaders have guaranteed the security of Russian army bases and diplomatic institutions on Syria's territory," the source told state-owned agencies TASS and Ria Novosti.

The fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad underscores Russia's weakness and inability to fight on two fronts, Ukraine's foreign ministry said on Sunday.

Russia had bolstered Assad's government by staging air strikes against opposition targets beginning in 2015 and had operated out of two bases on Syrian territory.

But Moscow's 33-month-old invasion of Ukraine has sapped considerable military resources.

"Events in Syria demonstrate the weakness of Putin's regime, which is incapable of fighting on two fronts and abandons its closest allies for the sake of continued aggression against Ukraine," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Russia said earlier that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had left office and departed his country after giving orders for a peaceful transfer of power, but did not say where he was now or whether the Russian military planned to stay in Syria.

The HUR intelligence directorate, posting on the Telegram messaging app, said Russian forces in Syria "had withdrawn its warships from the naval base in Tartous which Assad had allowed Moscow to use as payment for his security".

A frigate, the Admiral Grigorovich, as well as a cargo ship, the Engineer Trubin, were pulled out of Tartous on Sunday, it said and Russian aircraft were moving "the remnants of their weapons and military equipment" from Khmemim air base.

HUR provided no evidence of its affirmations and Reuters was not immediately able to verify the situation.

Russian war bloggers warned at the weekend that the two bases and Moscow's very presence in the Middle East were under threat from the insurgents.

Russian state media reported that ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is in Moscow and that the Russian government is granting he and his family asylum after they were forced to flee Syria.

Assad's whereabouts were unknown after he fled the country via Damascus International Airport when rebel fighters closed in on the capital city following a rapid advance into government held areas over the past ten days.

Following the collapse of the Assad regime on Sunday after opposition rebels seizedÌýDamascus, scores of those imprisoned under the regime are now tasting freedom for the first time in years, if not decades.

Arabic-language media and social media has been flooded with clips of those imprisoned under theÌýAssad regimeÌýbeing freed from prisons in several parts of the country.

Several videos showed rebels freeing hundreds of detainees jailed at the notoriousÌýSednaya Prison, located in Rif Dimashq.

The prison, known as the 'human slaughterhouse', was where thousands of anti-regime rebels and political prisoners were subjected multiple forms of abuse, torture and mass executions.

Reda al-Khedr was only five when his mother escaped the siege of Homs in 2014. A decade later in Cairo, he can hardly believe the Syrian government that killed his father has fallen.

"I can barely remember Syria," Khedr, now 15, told AFP in the Egyptian capital.

"But now we're going to go home to a liberated Syria. We're done with Bashar al-Assad and his corrupt regime," he said on Sunday, still blinking in disbelief at rebel groups' lightning offensive that toppled the Assad family's five-decade rule earlier in the day.

Khedr's father, who disappeared in 2014, was confirmed killed last year, mere months before rebel forces led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham opened prison after prison, freeing thousands.

"Maybe he would have been freed too," lamented the teenager, who calls himself part of Syria's "new generation that will rebuild even better than before".

Since 2011, when Assad's crackdown on pro-democracy protests sparked the civil war, around 1.5 million Syrians have sought shelter in Egypt, according to United Nations estimates based on government data.

Around 150,000 are registered refugees with the UN.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Sunday the EU would help to rebuild a Syria that safeguards minorities after the dramatic fall of Bashar al-Assad.

"Europe is ready to support safeguarding national unity and rebuilding a Syrian state that protects all minorities," she said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.

"The cruel Assad dictatorship has collapsed. This historic change in the region offers opportunities but is not without risks," added the commission president.

She said the bloc was in touch with key leaders in Europe and the region and was monitoring the fast-moving developments.

US President Joe Biden will meet Sunday with his national security advisors over Syria, where Islamist-led rebels declared they had taken Damascus and overthrown President Bashar al-Assad.

The United States so far has been muted in its response, as other world leaders have weighed in to urge peace, hailing the fall of Assad and encouraging a political solution to stabilize the war-stricken country.

"The President will meet with his national security team this morning to receive an update on the situation in Syria," National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett posted on X.

The US military has around 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq as part of the international coalition that was established in 2014 to help combat the Islamic State jihadist group.

It has regularly struck targets in the country including those linked to Iranian-backed militias. Tehran was a major backer of Assad's government.

Israel's military on Sunday imposed a curfew for residents of five Syrian towns in a demilitarised buffer zone of the Golan Heights which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered troops to seize.

"For your security you must stay at home and not go out until further notice," Lieutenant Colonel Avichay Adraee, an Israeli army spokesman, said on X, after Netanyahu's order earlier Sunday for the military to seize the zone, which abuts the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, after the fall of Syria's president.

Qatar has expressed deep concern over the developments in Syria, emphasising the importance of preserving national institutions and safeguarding the unity of the Syrian state to avert potential chaos.

In a on Sunday the Qatari foreign ministry called for "resolving the Syrian crisis in line with international legitimacy and [UN] Security Council Resolution 2254, to achieve the interests of the Syrian people and preserve the unity, sovereignty and independence of the country".

The statement called on all parties to "embrace dialogue as a means to end the shedding of the one people's blood, protect national institutions, secure a brighter future for the Syrian people, and achieve their aspirations for development, stability, and justice".

It further reiterated Qatar's "unwavering solidarity with the Syrian people and their choices".

A monitor of Syria's war said Israeli strikes targeted government security buildings in Damascus on Sunday, as an AFP correspondent reported the strikes and subsequent fire, hours after rebels overran the capital.

"Israeli strikes targeted a security complex in Damascus near the former regime's buildings" including intelligence, customs and a military headquarters, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. An AFP photographer saw buildings ablaze in the security complex, which includes military intelligence.

The leader of Syria's Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that headed a lightning rebel offensive snatching Damascus from government control visited the capital's landmark Umayyad Mosque Sunday, an AFP correspondent said.

HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, now using his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, gave a speech as the crowd chanted "Allahu akbar (God is greatest)," a video shared by the rebels on their Telegram channel showed. As he entered the mosque, crowds could be seen cheering him on, videos circulating online showed.

Syria's Islamist-led rebels announced a curfew in Damascus on Sunday until the following morning, after seizing the capital from the government following a lightning offensive launched last week.

The rebel factions' joint operations room, headed by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, "announces a curfew in the city of Damascus starting from 4:00 pm (1300 GMT) until 5:00 am (0200 GMT)" on Monday, it said in a statement on Telegram.

At the border crossings between Lebanon and Syria, a constant flow of movement has been underway since this morning.

Syrian refugees are taking advantage of the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime to return to their country, while Syrians from pro-regime areas are fleeing the rebel advance.

In Ersal, in northern Bekaa, families of Syrian refugees opposed to the regime are heading toward the Zamrani crossing point.

They travel by car, motorbike, or even on foot.

According to L'Orient-Le JourÌýthe Lebanese army opened the crossing into Syria to facilitate the return of Syrian refugees.

On the Syrian side of the Masnaa border crossing, dozens of families from Damascus wait on the porch, hoping to cross into Lebanon.

"We left in a hurry with just a few belongings. A plane to Iran is supposed to be chartered for us," an Afghan woman in her twenties told Lebanese newspaper L'Orient-Le Jour while holding her two children.

Many of these families come from the Shia neighbourhood of Sayyeda Zeinab, located on the outskirts of the Syrian capital.

Among them, a 90-year-old Afghan Hazara woman sat in a wheelchair, wrapped in a blanket.

Further north, similar scenes unfold at border crossings in the northern Bekaa Valley, where hundreds of families from the towns of Rable, al-Qasr, Hosh al-Sayyed Ali, and al-Musharrafe have fled to Lebanon.

The exodus follows the fall of Homs and its surrounding region to Syrian rebel forces.

Hezbollah has reportedly withdrawn all its forces from Syria as of Saturday, according to two Lebanese security sources cited by Reuters.

This follows reports from other sources that the Shia group had sent 2,000 fighters to Syria earlier in the week to counter the advance of Syrian rebels toward Damascus.

In response to the escalating situation, the Lebanese army announced on Sunday it had bolstered its presence along the border with Syria.

"Given the rapid developments and delicate circumstances in the region, the army command is monitoring the situation on the border and inside the country to prevent any threat to civil peace," the army stated.

"The units responsible for monitoring and controlling the northern and eastern borders have been reinforced, alongside enhanced surveillance procedures. Additionally, army units deployed across Lebanon are implementing exceptional measures to maintain security and protect civil peace," the statement added.

Iraq has urged respect for the "free will" of all Syrians and the country's territorial integrity.

"Iraq reaffirms the necessity of respecting the free will of all Syrians and emphasises that the security, territorial integrity and independence of Syria are of paramount importance," government spokesman Basim Alawadi said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia has been communicating with all regional actors on Syria and is determined to do what is possible to avoid chaos, a Saudi official has said.

"We are in constant communication with Turkey and every stakeholder involved," the official told Reuters, adding that the kingdom was not aware of Assad's whereabouts.

His failure to re-engage several regional actors and the opposition was to blame for his downfall, the official said

"The Turkish government attempted to engage and coordinate with the Syrian government, but these overtures were met with refusal," he said.

"The current situation is a direct consequence of the Syrian government's lack of engagement in the political process. This outcome reflects the inevitable result of such intransigence."

Assad went to Saudi Arabia in 2023 to attend an Arab League summit, after a 12-year suspension, where he met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

"The hope was that this move would influence the Syrian government to engage more constructively with the opposition and the various stakeholders within Syria and in the region, rather than allowing the existing stalemate and fragile peace to be taken for granted," the official said.

"We emphasised that the situation should not be underestimated, as it remained precarious. Unfortunately, this message did not result in any meaningful action from the Syrian side."

The official said events in Syria showed some positive aspects that he hoped would continue.

"Notably, the transition has occurred without bloodshed, which is encouraging. Additionally, we appreciate the statements from various stakeholders emphasizing the importance of protecting state institutions, the sovereignty of Syria, and the rights of minority groups," he said.

"We hope to see these positive trends continue and are committed to doing everything we can to maintain this momentum."

Syria should have an 18 month transition period to establish "a safe, neutral, and quiet environment" for free elections,ÌýHadi Al-Bahra, the head ofÌýSyria's main opposition abroad, said toÌý¸é±ð³Ü³Ù±ð°ù²õÌýon the sidelines of the Doha Forum on Sunday.

´¡±ô-µþ²¹³ó°ù²¹,ÌýPresident of the Syrian National Coalition, said Syria should draft a constitution within six months, on which the first election would be a referendum.

"The constitution will say, are we going to have a parliamentary system, presidential system, or mixed system? And based on this, we do the election and the people choose their leader," said Al-Bahra.

He added that the opposition had asked state employees to continue to report to work until the power transition, and assured them that they would not be harmed.

Syrian Islamist rebels have said that their commander- in-chief al-Joulani has arrived in Damascus following the fighters takeover of the city from government forces early on Sunday.

Footage, not verified by °®Âþµº, has been circulating on social media apparently showing al-Joulani praying to God on his arrival to the capital city.

القائد العام أحمد الشرع يسجد لله شكرا �ور وصوله دمشق

— قتيبة ياسين (@k7ybnd99)

Iran said Sunday it will adopt "appropriate approaches" towards Syria in accordance with the behaviour of "effective actors" in Damascus, following the fall of its ally Bashar al-Assad.

Iran's foreign ministry said Tehran "will adopt appropriate approaches and positions", regarding Syria while "taking into account the behaviour and performances of the effective actors" in Damascus.

Qatar's foreign ministry on Sunday warned Syria must not be allowed to descend into chaos after Islamist-led rebels declared they had taken Damascus and ousted President Bashar al-Assad.

The Gulf emirate said it was "closely monitoring the developments in Syria" and emphasised "the necessity of preserving national institutions and the unity of the state to prevent it from sliding into chaos".

Jordan's King Abdullah II said on Sunday that his government "stands by its Syrian brothers and respects their will and choices", after Islamist-led rebels forces toppled Bashar al-Assad's rule.

According to a royal statement, the king told his National Security Council that there was a "need to protect Syria's security, its citizens" and to work towards "stability and avoid any conflict that may lead to chaos".

In a seismic shift for the Middle East, Syrian rebels declared theÌýoverthrow of President Bashar al-AssadÌýon Sunday after capturing Damascus, ending over 23 years of his authoritarian rule.

The Islamist-led offensive notÌýonly toppled Assad's regimeÌýbut also dealt a significant blow to the regional influence of his key backers, Russia and Iran.

Despite the collapse of his stronghold, Assad's exact location remains unknown. Two senior army officers toldÌýReutersÌýthat he had fled Damascus for an undisclosed destination hours before rebels entered the capital.

"[Assad] left the country on a plane to an unknown destination," sources told the news agency.

His whereabouts nowÌý— and those of his wife Asma and their two childrenÌý— remain unknown.

Read more here:

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday welcomed news of the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and said France will remain committed to the security of all in the Middle East.

"The barbaric state has fallen. Finally. I pay tribute to the Syrian people, to their courage, to their patience. In this moment of uncertainty, I wish them peace, freedom and unity," Macron said in a post on X social media. "France will remain committed to the security of all in the Middle East."

The barbaric state has fallen. At last.

I pay tribute to the Syrian people, to their courage, to their patience. In this moment of uncertainty, I send them my wishes for peace, freedom, and unity.

France will remain committed to the security of all in the Middle East.

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron)

Dozens of Syrians explored President Bashar al-Assad's luxurious Damascus home after it was looted on Sunday, an AFP correspondent said, following the fall of the capital to rebel forces.

Women, children and men could be seen inspecting the six-storey home and its large garden, with the rooms completely empty, save some furniture and a portrait of Assad thrown on the floor.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had left office and departed the country after giving orders there be a peaceful handover of power.

In a statement, the ministry did not say where Assad was now and said Russia has not taken part in the talks around his departure.

"As a result of negotiations between B. Assad and a number of participants in the armed conflict on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic, he decided to resign from the presidency and left the country, giving instructions for a peaceful transfer of power.

"Russia did not participate in these negotiations," the ministry said.

Moscow was extremely worried by events in Syria and urged all sides to refrain from violence, it said.

"We urge all parties involved to refrain from the use of violence and to resolve all issues of governance through political means," the statement said.

"In that regard, the Russian Federation is in contact with all groups of the Syrian opposition."

It said Russia's military bases in Syria had been put on a state of high alert, but that there was no serious threat to them at the current time.

Turkey-backed Syrian forces entered the northern Syrian city of Manbij after taking control of most of the surrounding area from U.S.-allied Kurdish forces there, a Turkish security source said on Sunday.

The operation comes after Syrian rebels in the south declared President Bashar al-Assad's ouster after seizing control of Damascus.

"The fight against the YPG/PKK is very close to victory. Both air and land interventions are ongoing to take Manbij from the hands of the YPG/PKK," the source said, referring to the Kurdish militia which has long been in control of Manbij.

The source subsequently said the rebel forces were in the city of Manbij itself. There was no immediate comment from Kurdish forces in the city, some 30 km (19 miles) south of the Turkish border and to the west of the Euphrates river.

Syrian rebels earlier said they had started an attack on Manbij, according to a statement posted on Sunday but dated Dec. 7 (Saturday) on X by the Ministry of Defense of the Syrian Interim Government.

The YPG has been a central element of U.S.-allied forces in a coalition against Islamic State militants. Ankara says the YPG is a terrorist group, closely tied to Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants who have fought the Turkish state for 40 years

Suspected Israeli strikes hit Mazzeh district of Damascus, one Lebanese and one Syrian security source said on Sunday.

The Lebanese army said on Sunday it was reinforcing its presence on the border with neighbouring Syria, after the government of longtime President Bashar al-Assad fell and rebels took the capital Damascus.

"In light of rapid developments and delicate circumstances that the region is going through... units tasked with monitoring and controlling the northern and eastern borders have been reinforced, in conjunction with tightening surveillance measures," the army said in a statement.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib called on need for Syria to "preserve the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria, as well as non-interference in its internal affairs."

In the statement issued after a meeting on Sunday, they highlighted "Lebanon's desire to establish the best relations with the Syrian state and its representatives, to preserve the common interests of the two countries."

The Israeli military said Sunday it had deployed forces to a demilitarised buffer zone in southwest Syria abutting the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights after Damascus fell to rebel forces.

Israel had already said the day before, as the Islamist-led rebels swiftly advanced across Syria, that its soldiers had entered the UN-patrolled buffer zone to assist peacekeepers in repelling an attack.

On Sunday, the army announced a troop deployment there, citing "the possible entry of armed individuals into the buffer zone".

"Following the recent events in Syria... the IDF (army) has deployed forces in the buffer zone and in several other places necessary for its defence, to ensure the safety of the communities of the Golan Heights and the citizens of Israel," a military statement said.

Israeli forces "will continue to operate as long as necessary in order to preserve the buffer zone and defend Israel", it added.

The statement stressed that the Israeli military "is not interfering with the internal events in Syria".

The Russian embassy in Syria has said that its staff are "fine" following the ousting of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the capture of Damascus by rebel groups, Russia's state TASS news agency reported on Sunday.

Syrian rebels announced on state television on Sunday that they had ousted Assad, eliminating a 50-year family dynasty in a lightning offensive that raises the spectre of a new wave of instability in a Middle East gripped by war.

"We are fine," a Russian embassy staff member told TASS, without providing details on the diplomats' whereabouts.

On Friday, the embassy had urged Russian nationals to leave the country.

Russia, a staunch Assad ally, intervened decisively in 2015 to prop him up during Syria's civil war, which began in 2011.

Russian war bloggers have raised fears about the fate of two strategically-important Russian military facilities in Syria. 

The United States will maintain its presence in eastern Syria and will take measures necessary to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East Daniel Shapiro said on Sunday.

Speaking hours after Syrian rebels announced they had toppled Bashar al-Assad's government, Shapiro called on all parties to protect civilians, particularly minorities, and to respect international norms.

"We are aware that the chaotic and dynamic circumstances on the ground in Syria could give ISIS space to find the ability to become active, to plan external operations, and we're determined to work with those partners to continue to degrade their capabilities," he told the Manama Dialogue security conference in Bahrain's capital.

"(We're determined) to ensure (Islamic State's) enduring defeat, to ensure the secure detention of ISIS fighters and the repatriation of displaced persons," Shapiro added.

(Reuters)

Turkey-backed Syrian forces have taken control of some 80 percent of northern Syria's Manbij area and are close to victory against Kurdish forces there, a Turkish security source said on Sunday.

"The fight against the YPG/PKK is very close to victory. Both air and land interventions are ongoing to take Manbij from the hands of the YPG/PKK," the source said, referring to the Kurdish militia which has long been in control of Manbij.

Iraqi embassy staff left Damascus on Sunday for neighbouring Lebanon, a diplomatic source told AFP, after Syrian rebel forces seized the capital and declared the end of President Bashar al-Assad's rule.

The foreign ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the embassy's 10 employees including the mission's chief arrived "in Beirut by land, and are all in good condition", adding that the evacuation was "due to the tensions in Damascus... the full withdrawal of the army and the loss of security".

Iran's embassy was stormed by Syrian rebels following their capture of Damascus, Iran's English-language Press TV reported on Sunday.

Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen underscores the clear desire expressed by millions of Syrians that stable and inclusive transitional arrangements are put in place, according to a statement published on Sunday.

The diplomat urged all Syrians to prioritize dialogue, unity, and respect for international humanitarian law and human rights as they seek to rebuild their society, adding he stands ready to support the Syrian people in their journey toward a stable and inclusive future.

A Syrian Air plane took off from Damascus airport around the time the capital was reported to have been taken by rebels, according to data from the Flightradar website.

The aircraft initially flew towards Syria's coastal region, a stronghold of Assad's Alawite sect, but then made an abrupt U-turn and flew in the opposite direction for a few minutes before disappearing off the map.

Reuters could not immediately ascertain who was on board.

Two Syrian sources said there was a very high probability that Assad may have been killed in a plane crash as it was a mystery why the plane took a surprise U turn and disappeared off the map according to data from the Flightradar website.

"It disappeared off the radar, possibly the transponder was switched off, but I believe the bigger probability is that the aircraft was taken down...," said one Syrian source without elaborating.

A senior United Arab Emirates official urged Syrians on Sunday to collaborate to avert chaos after rebels said they had seized Damascus and announced the fall of President Bashar al-Assad.

"We hope that the Syrians will work together, that we don't just see another episode of impending chaos," presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said at the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain.

Walla news' Barak Ravid reported on Sunday that Israel has told Syrian rebel forces not to approach the border, and warned that the country will respond with force if they violate a separation of forces agreement.

The Syrian rebel coalition said on Sunday it is continuing work to complete the transfer of power in Syria to a transitional governing body with full executive powers.

"The great Syrian revolution has moved from the stage of struggle to overthrow the Assad regime to the struggle to build a Syria together that befits the sacrifices of its people," it added in a statement.

Syria's capital woke up Sunday to chanting, cheering and gunfire in celebration of the fall of President Bashar al-Assad, after rebels said they entered the city and toppled the longtime ruler.

"I can't believe I'm living this moment," tearful Damascus resident Amer Batha told AFP by phone from the capital's Ummayad Square, where witnesses said dozens of people had gathered to celebrate.

"We've been waiting a long time for this day," said Batha, as Islamist-led rebels and a war monitor declared the end of decades of Assad family rule amid 13 years of grinding civil war.

"We are starting a new history for Syria," Batha added.

At the dawn call to prayer, some mosques were broadcasting religious chants usually reserved for festive occasions, while also urging residents to stay home with the city engulfed in uncertainty just hours into the rebels' takeover.