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Syria
military bases<\/strong><\/a> in Syria \u2014 a shipyard in Tartus and an airbase in Khmeimim \u2014 and unable to support al-Assad militarily. From these bases, according to Yermak, \"Russia and Iran exported their malign anti-Americanism.\"<\/p>\n<p>The fall of al-Assad, Yermak stated, is a severe blow to Russia's credibility. Allies like Iran and authoritarian leaders worldwide must realise that Putin is unable to protect his partners. Moreover, Russia's influence in the region, particularly in Africa, where it has long benefitted from its presence in Syria, is dwindling.<\/p>\n<div class=\"widget widget--type-image widget--size-fullwidth widget--animation-fade-in widget--align-center\" data-ratio=\"0.6669921875\">\n <div class=\"widget__wrapper\">\n <div class=\"widget__ratio widget__ratio--auto\">\n <div class=\"widget__contents\">\n <figure class=\"widget__figure\">\n <img class=\"widgetImage__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////static.euronews.com//articles//stories//08//92//87//96//808x539_cmsv2_a2ddf71b-d44d-5dd1-a643-4a476962b071-8928796.jpg/" alt=\"A Russian armoured vehicle drives past Syrian fighters guarding Lakatia airport in the town of Khmeimim, southeast of the city of Latakia, Syria, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/87\/96\/384x256_cmsv2_a2ddf71b-d44d-5dd1-a643-4a476962b071-8928796.jpg 384w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/87\/96\/640x427_cmsv2_a2ddf71b-d44d-5dd1-a643-4a476962b071-8928796.jpg 640w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/87\/96\/750x500_cmsv2_a2ddf71b-d44d-5dd1-a643-4a476962b071-8928796.jpg 750w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/87\/96\/828x552_cmsv2_a2ddf71b-d44d-5dd1-a643-4a476962b071-8928796.jpg 828w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/87\/96\/1080x720_cmsv2_a2ddf71b-d44d-5dd1-a643-4a476962b071-8928796.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/87\/96\/1200x800_cmsv2_a2ddf71b-d44d-5dd1-a643-4a476962b071-8928796.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/87\/96\/1920x1281_cmsv2_a2ddf71b-d44d-5dd1-a643-4a476962b071-8928796.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 95vw, (max-width: 1024px) 80vw, (max-width: 1280px) 55vw, 728px\"\/>\n <figcaption class=\"widget__caption\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionWrap\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionText\">A Russian armoured vehicle drives past Syrian fighters guarding Lakatia airport in the town of Khmeimim, southeast of the city of Latakia, Syria, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024.<\/span>\n <span class=\"widget__captionCredit\">Leo Correa\/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved.<\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The weakened support for al-Assad and Hezbollah undermines Russia's ability to challenge NATO or exert influence in the Middle East and North Africa, according to Ukrainian president's head of office. Furthermore, the collapse of the al-Assad regime sends a signal to other authoritarian allies of Moscow: Putin's backing may prove to be worthless. <\/p>\n<p>For Yermak, the war in Ukraine is not only a fight for national sovereignty, but also a strategic tool to strengthen America's global interests. <\/p>\n<p>\"Russia is trying to undermine Ukrainians' will to keep fighting \u2014 but their resolve to preserve freedom and sovereignty remains ironclad\", wrote Yermak. The West must seize this moment to further weaken Russia and curb authoritarian aggression worldwide, he argued.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-widget-related\" data-stories-id=\"8926380,8914520\" data-event=\"widget_related\">\n <div class=\"c-widget-related__title\">\n <b class=\"c-widget-related__title__text\" lang=\"en\">Related<\/b>\n <\/div>\n <ul class=\"c-widget-related__list\">\n <li class=\"c-widget-related__item\"><a class=\"c-widget-related__article\" href=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////www.euronews.com//2024//12//16//bashar-al-assad-says-he-didnt-plan-to-flee-syria-before-evacuation-to-russia/">Bashar al-Assad says he didn't plan to flee Syria before evacuation to Russia<\/a><\/li><li class=\"c-widget-related__item\"><a class=\"c-widget-related__article\" href=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////www.euronews.com//2024//12//23//qa-syrias-territorial-integrity-is-turkiyes-priority-fahrettin-altun-says/">Q&A: Syria's territorial integrity is T\u00fcrkiye's priority, Fahrettin Altun says<\/a><\/li>\n <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also posted a statement on X, in which he states that Ukraine is interested in stabilising the situation in Syria and the entire region. \"We believe that it is crucial for the security of the Syrian people and the entire region to remove any Russian presence from Syria,\" Zelenskyy said. <\/p>\n<p>\"We are ready to work with the representatives of the Syrian people to correct the mistakes of the al-Assad regime, especially towards Ukraine and Europe as a whole.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"Ukrainians crave a peace that is just and sustainable, one that protects Ukraine, the US, Europe and our collective interests around the world,\" concluded Yermak in his opinion article. <\/p>\n<p>\"We must coalesce around new security, economic and legal measures that protect our shared interests. Only this kind of framework will prevent Mr Putin from again threatening and invading Ukraine \u2014 and deter authoritarians worldwide from attacking other US allies and partners.\"<\/p>\n<h2>Consequences of Russia's intervention<\/h2><p>Russia's intervention in the Syrian civil war in 2015 had far-reaching consequences for Moscow. Essentially, Putin aimed to challenge the US-led international system and secure the survival of an authoritarian regime like al-Assad's, Anna Borshchevskaya for the Washington Institute said.<\/p>\n<p>According to Borshchevskaya, the intervention served a dual purpose for Russia: preventing the US from toppling another authoritarian regime and defending Russian sovereignty while strengthening its geopolitical position. <\/p>\n<p>Additionally, she claimed that with its intervention in Syria, Moscow had won some respect from the US, its partners and adversaries. <\/p>\n<p>\"Western leaders talked a lot \u2014 about values, freedom, dignity, the al-Assad regime\u2019s loss of legitimacy and the need for regime change,\" Borshchevskaya explained in her article. <\/p>\n<p>\"But when push came to shove, they preferred to limit involvement. Putin said little, but did what he said he would do \u2014 he saved al-Assad.\" <\/p>\n<div class=\"widget widget--type-image widget--size-fullwidth widget--animation-fade-in widget--align-center\" data-ratio=\"0.6669921875\">\n <div class=\"widget__wrapper\">\n <div class=\"widget__ratio widget__ratio--auto\">\n <div class=\"widget__contents\">\n <figure class=\"widget__figure\">\n <img class=\"widgetImage__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////static.euronews.com//articles//stories//08//92//87//96//808x539_cmsv2_90436398-ffe5-541a-bfa7-7bc0079a6407-8928796.jpg/" alt=\"Syrians walk by posters of Syrian President Bashar Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Aleppo, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/87\/96\/384x256_cmsv2_90436398-ffe5-541a-bfa7-7bc0079a6407-8928796.jpg 384w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/87\/96\/640x427_cmsv2_90436398-ffe5-541a-bfa7-7bc0079a6407-8928796.jpg 640w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/87\/96\/750x500_cmsv2_90436398-ffe5-541a-bfa7-7bc0079a6407-8928796.jpg 750w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/87\/96\/828x552_cmsv2_90436398-ffe5-541a-bfa7-7bc0079a6407-8928796.jpg 828w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/87\/96\/1080x720_cmsv2_90436398-ffe5-541a-bfa7-7bc0079a6407-8928796.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/87\/96\/1200x800_cmsv2_90436398-ffe5-541a-bfa7-7bc0079a6407-8928796.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/87\/96\/1920x1281_cmsv2_90436398-ffe5-541a-bfa7-7bc0079a6407-8928796.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 95vw, (max-width: 1024px) 80vw, (max-width: 1280px) 55vw, 728px\"\/>\n <figcaption class=\"widget__caption\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionWrap\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionText\">Syrians walk by posters of Syrian President Bashar Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Aleppo, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018.<\/span>\n <span class=\"widget__captionCredit\">Hassan Ammar\/Copyright 2018 The AP. All rights reserved.<\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Through its military support for al-Assad, Russia was also able to secure control of the western and central Syrian airspace and establish a permanent military presence in the Mediterranean\u2014its only such presence in the region. <\/p>\n<p>Human Rights Watch reported in 2020 that Russia, during its prolonged intervention, repeatedly targeted civilian infrastructure in Syria, including hospitals, schools, markets, and residential areas. <\/p>\n<p>\"International humanitarian law, or the laws of war, requires all warring parties to direct attacks on military objectives, avoid harming civilians or civilian objects, and not carry out attacks that cause indiscriminate or disproportionate civilian harm\", the report reads.<\/p>\n<p>In May 2019, for example, Russian airstrikes hit four hospitals in Idlib within a 12-hour period, according to a\u00a0New York Times\u00a0investigation.<\/p>\n","hashtag":null,"createdAt":1734960908,"updatedAt":1735049187,"publishedAt":1735049183,"firstPublishedAt":1735049183,"lastPublishedAt":1735049183,"expiresAt":0,"images":[{"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/04\/82\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_50d35eaa-528f-562e-a7a4-f34b5fcc48a6-8900482.jpg","altText":"Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Syrian President Bashar Assad watch troops marching at the Hemeimeem air base in Syria, on Dec. 11, 2017. ","caption":"Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Syrian President Bashar Assad watch troops marching at the Hemeimeem air base in Syria, on Dec. 11, 2017. ","captionUrl":null,"captionCredit":"Mikhail Klimentyev\/AP","sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"callToActionText":null,"width":1024,"height":727}],"authors":{"journalists":[{"id":2922,"urlSafeValue":"urbancik","title":"Johanna Urbancik","twitter":"johannaurbancik"}],"producers":[],"videoEditor":[]},"keywords":[{"id":8155,"slug":"syria","urlSafeValue":"syria","title":"Syria","titleRaw":"Syria"},{"id":26698,"slug":"russia-ukraine-invasion","urlSafeValue":"russia-ukraine-invasion","title":"Russia's invasion of Ukraine","titleRaw":"Russia's invasion of Ukraine"},{"id":239,"slug":"russia","urlSafeValue":"russia","title":"Russia","titleRaw":"Russia"},{"id":26330,"slug":"ukraine-russia-border-crisis","urlSafeValue":"ukraine-russia-border-crisis","title":"Russia's invasion of Ukraine ","titleRaw":"Russia's invasion of Ukraine "},{"id":11644,"slug":"conflict-in-syria","urlSafeValue":"conflict-in-syria","title":"Conflict in Syria","titleRaw":"Conflict in Syria"}],"widgets":[{"slug":"image","count":4},{"slug":"related","count":1}],"related":[{"id":2710184},{"id":2709910},{"id":2709702}],"technicalTags":[],"externalPartners":[],"hasExternalVideo":0,"video":0,"videos":[],"liveStream":[{"startDate":0,"endDate":0}],"scribbleLiveId":0,"scribbleLiveRibbon":0,"isLiveCoverage":0,"sourceId":1,"sources":[],"externalSource":null,"additionalSources":null,"additionalReporting":null,"freeField1":null,"freeField2":"","type":"normal","displayType":"default","program":{"id":"europe-news","urlSafeValue":"europe-news","title":"Europe News","online":1,"url":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/my-europe\/europe-news\/europe-news"},"vertical":"my-europe","verticals":[{"id":2,"slug":"my-europe","urlSafeValue":"my-europe","title":"Europe"}],"primaryVertical":{"id":2,"slug":"my-europe","urlSafeValue":"my-europe","title":"Europe"},"themes":[{"id":"europe-news","urlSafeValue":"europe-news","title":"Europe 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ALEPPO RUINS","channels":[{"id":1},{"id":2},{"id":3},{"id":4},{"id":5},{"id":10},{"id":12},{"id":14}],"status":2,"title":"In war-torn Aleppo, a glimmer of hope appears among the ruins ","titleSeo":null,"titleListing1":"In war-torn Aleppo, a glimmer of hope appears among the ruins ","titleListing2":"In war-torn Aleppo, a glimmer of hope appears among the ruins ","leadin":"Amid the devastation of Aleppo's past and present, Syrians reflect on the harrowing legacy of war, the loss of lives, and the hope for a better future.","summary":"Amid the devastation of Aleppo's past and present, Syrians reflect on the harrowing legacy of war, the loss of lives, and the hope for a better future.","keySentence":"","url":"in-war-torn-aleppo-a-glimmer-of-hope-appears-among-the-ruins","canonical":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2024\/12\/24\/in-war-torn-aleppo-a-glimmer-of-hope-appears-among-the-ruins","masterCms":"v2","plainText":"Standing on a road surrounded by wrecked buildings on a cold, sunny day, Ahmed is pensive, stirred by the harrowing memories from this point eight years ago.\u00a0\n\n\u201cEight years ago, I was besieged in the city of Aleppo,\u201d he explains. \u201cEvacuations had stalled many times after a fragile ceasefire \u2026 The buses were late for four days.\u201d\n\nThey were stuck there without access to food or water, evading the incoming attacks struck by Bashar al-Assad\u2019s campaign, which was backed by Russia and Iran.\n\nIn the 13 years of the bloody civil war in Syria, tens of thousands of people disappeared, hundreds of thousands of people were killed, and millions of Syrians became refugees across the world.\u00a0\n\nMeanwhile, various armed groups backed as proxy forces against the Russia-Iran influence gained authority across the country\u2019s north.\n\nRebels held the east and south of Aleppo city in 2016 when al-Assad\u2019s forces made a critical gain here through a military offensive backed by a Russian naval fleet to capture the entire city centre of Syria\u2019s most populous governorate and an important commercial and cultural hub.\n\n\u201cBy the time pro-government forces recaptured Aleppo city a month later, all hospitals had been bombed out of service by Syrian and\/or Russian air forces,\u201d the United Nations Human Rights Council said in a statement.\u00a0\n\n\u201cRepeated bombardments of hospitals, schools, and markets without any warnings strongly suggest that the encirclement of the city and targeting of civilian infrastructure were part of a meticulous strategy to compel surrender,\u201d Paulo S\u00e9rgio Pinheiro, head of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria, said.\n\nMeanwhile, the rebels were also striking the western part, also causing civilian deaths. \u201cThe siege of eastern Aleppo city was characterised by some of the most serious violations of international law the Commission has documented, which were committed by all warring parties,\u201d Pinheiro said in March 2017.\n\nThe most destructive period of the war in Aleppo lasted from 2012, a year after the protests turned into a war, until al-Assad\u2019s forces captured it in 2016 and ruled it until the fall of Damascus, the capital, recently.\n\nOn 30 November, a lightning military operation led by the Idlib-based militant group Hayal Tahrir Al-Sham and joined by the Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army arrived in Aleppo. On 8 December, the groups arrived in Damascus, where Al-Assad was residing and fled to Russia on that day.\u00a0\n\nMonumental changes for a country that has been under the dynasty of Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez al-Assad, since the 1970s and that has endured one of the deadliest conflicts in recent history with the world watching. \n\nWalking through the rubbled streets, Ahmed is full of emotions years later. Remembering his friends who were killed here, he says: \u201cThis is the legacy they have left.\u201d\n\nThere are still old projectiles by the sidewalk, people living in and around heavily damaged buildings, and piles of rubble on the main roads and the back streets.\n\nIt\u2019s a school day, but dozens of children, many of them without winter gear, are waiting impatiently in line for food distribution at the exact same point that used to be the frontline between the al-Assad forces and the rebels until the evacuation.\n\nAhmed, 33, who has been living in Azaz in the northern part of Aleppo province since forcibly leaving his home, says it\u2019s the first time he\u2019s come back here and seen the level of destruction.\n\nIt\u2019s a turning point, and he says he wishes for it to lead to \u201ca Syria for Syrian people\u201d.\n\n27-year-old Omar, who watches the new period unfold from his living room, which no longer has an outer wall, says the war has impacted his psychology deeply, but looking ahead, he is hopeful.\u00a0\n\nOmar lived in Lebanon for five years after the war broke out, and he returned with his family because the conditions were very harsh for a refugee working as a stone smith. However, despite the challenges, \u201cthere\u2019s no place like my homeland,\u201d he says, \n\nWhile the civil war is giving way to a post-Al-Assad period, the fight between the FSA and the Kurdish militia holding positions east of the Euphrates River continues at various points.\n\nThe Tishreen Dam on the Euphrates has been damaged, and two water stations were suspended, the United Nations has announced, in the fights between the US-backed Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces and the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army (FSA) forces in the past weeks.\n\nFor Aleppo\u2019s over two million residents, it means they are left without water. And if the dam is further damaged, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warns some 40 villages could be flooded.\n\n\u201cElectricity is only available for a few hours in the night,\u201d Sima, a 19-year-old computer engineering student from Aleppo, says. \u201cWe are suffering because we don\u2019t have water, electricity or proper internet.\u201d\u00a0\n\nWhen she was seven, she stopped going to school for three years because of the war. Now, she\u2019s back in school but is pessimistic about possibility to find a job once she graduates.\n\n\u201cI can speak English and I study engineering, but I won\u2019t be able to find a job,\u201d she says. To be able to enjoy the victory over the former government, she adds that daily life needs have to be met.\n\nIn Aleppo, schools have reopened, and Christians, who point to happiness over the ending of a conflict but remain cautious over HTS, have attended regular Sunday services.\u00a0\n\nHaroutioun Simonian, at the Catholic Latin Church in Aleppo, is coordinating the food distribution inside a yard for residents in need, and underlines they are \u201cstill living in a survival mode.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a big change for us,\u201d he says. \u201cThey guaranteed us our freedoms - freedom of faith, of expression, but we don\u2019t know until when or how. There is no law yet. There is no proper government\u2026 We will see.\u201d\n\nAs a man dances atop a camel, surrounded by a joyful crowd, right nearby, on the entrance of the medieval Aleppo Citadel, the new Syrian flag with three red stars and a green stripe is hung.\u00a0\n\nWith drums rolling and nationalist slogans chanted, a celebration is in the making.\n\nBut for residents of Aleppo and Syria alike, there are significant challenges ahead.\n\nSome 90% of Syrians are living under the poverty line, according to various international organisations, including the UN.\n\nMeanwhile, more than six million people have been internally displaced, and just as many have become refugees across the world through the war.\n\nTies with the Kurdish militia holding the northeast of the country and some neighbourhoods in Aleppo, whether HTS, a group widely acknowledged as a terror organization with past ties to al-Qaeda and its Syrian offshoot Jabhat Al-Nusra, will form an inclusive government and a civil constitution respectful of individual freedoms, Israel\u2019s land expansion, and rebuilding Syria\u2019s poor, damaged infrastructure, education system and human rights records among other big topics.\n\n\u201cWe have a lot to do,\u201d Ahmed acknowledges. \u201cWe need everyone to rebuild Syria.\u201d\n\nHTS did not respond to Euronews' requests for comment.\n\n","htmlText":"<p>Standing on a road surrounded by wrecked buildings on a cold, sunny day, Ahmed is pensive, stirred by the harrowing memories from this point eight years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEight years ago, I was besieged in the city of Aleppo,\u201d he explains. \u201cEvacuations had stalled many times after a fragile ceasefire \u2026 The buses were late for four days.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They were stuck there without access to food or water, evading the incoming attacks struck by Bashar al-Assad\u2019s campaign, which was backed by Russia and Iran.<\/p>\n<p>In the 13 years of the bloody civil war in Syria, tens of thousands of people disappeared, hundreds of thousands of people were killed, and millions of Syrians became refugees across the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, various armed groups backed as proxy forces against the Russia-Iran influence gained authority across the country\u2019s north.<\/p>\n<p>Rebels held the east and south of Aleppo city in 2016 when al-Assad\u2019s forces made a critical gain here through a military offensive backed by a Russian naval fleet to capture the entire city centre of Syria\u2019s most populous governorate and an important commercial and cultural hub.<\/p>\n<div class=\"widget widget--type-image widget--size-fullwidth widget--animation-fade-in widget--align-center\" data-ratio=\"0.6666666666666666\">\n <div class=\"widget__wrapper\">\n <div class=\"widget__ratio widget__ratio--auto\">\n <div class=\"widget__contents\">\n <figure class=\"widget__figure\">\n <img class=\"widgetImage__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////static.euronews.com//articles//stories//08//92//88//60//808x539_cmsv2_ab1efe9d-17cd-567c-9c2f-796299fb4f09-8928860.jpg/" alt=\"A mother and her children stand on a street in Aleppo, Syria, against the backdrop of war-torn buildings\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/88\/60\/384x256_cmsv2_ab1efe9d-17cd-567c-9c2f-796299fb4f09-8928860.jpg 384w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/88\/60\/640x427_cmsv2_ab1efe9d-17cd-567c-9c2f-796299fb4f09-8928860.jpg 640w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/88\/60\/750x500_cmsv2_ab1efe9d-17cd-567c-9c2f-796299fb4f09-8928860.jpg 750w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/88\/60\/828x552_cmsv2_ab1efe9d-17cd-567c-9c2f-796299fb4f09-8928860.jpg 828w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/88\/60\/1080x720_cmsv2_ab1efe9d-17cd-567c-9c2f-796299fb4f09-8928860.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/88\/60\/1200x800_cmsv2_ab1efe9d-17cd-567c-9c2f-796299fb4f09-8928860.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/88\/60\/1920x1280_cmsv2_ab1efe9d-17cd-567c-9c2f-796299fb4f09-8928860.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 95vw, (max-width: 1330px) 70vw, 900px\"\/>\n <figcaption class=\"widget__caption\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionWrap\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionText\">A mother and her children stand on a street in Aleppo, Syria, against the backdrop of war-torn buildings<\/span>\n <span class=\"widget__captionCredit\">Can Erok for euronews<\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>\u201cBy the time pro-government forces recaptured Aleppo city a month later, all hospitals had been bombed out of service by Syrian and\/or Russian air forces,\u201d the United Nations Human Rights Council said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRepeated bombardments of hospitals, schools, and markets without any warnings strongly suggest that the encirclement of the city and targeting of civilian infrastructure were part of a meticulous strategy to compel surrender,\u201d Paulo S\u00e9rgio Pinheiro, head of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria, said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-widget-related\" data-stories-id=\"8921410\" data-event=\"widget_related\">\n <div class=\"c-widget-related__title\">\n <b class=\"c-widget-related__title__text\" lang=\"en\">Related<\/b>\n <\/div>\n <ul class=\"c-widget-related__list\">\n <li class=\"c-widget-related__item\"><a class=\"c-widget-related__article\" href=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////www.euronews.com//2024//12//19//as-thousands-celebrate-al-assads-fall-syrian-alawites-remain-cautious/">As thousands celebrate al-Assad's fall, Syrian Alawites remain cautious<\/a><\/li>\n <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, the rebels were also striking the western part, also causing civilian deaths. \u201cThe siege of eastern Aleppo city was characterised by some of the most serious violations of international law the Commission has documented, which were committed by all warring parties,\u201d Pinheiro said in March 2017.<\/p>\n<p>The most destructive period of the war in Aleppo lasted from 2012, a year after the protests turned into a war, until al-Assad\u2019s forces captured it in 2016 and ruled it until the fall of Damascus, the capital, recently.<\/p>\n<p>On 30 November, a lightning military operation led by the Idlib-based militant group Hayal Tahrir Al-Sham and joined by the Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army arrived in Aleppo. On 8 December, the groups arrived in Damascus, where Al-Assad was residing and fled to Russia on that day.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"widget widget--type-image widget--size-fullwidth widget--animation-fade-in widget--align-center\" data-ratio=\"0.75\">\n <div class=\"widget__wrapper\">\n <div class=\"widget__ratio widget__ratio--auto\">\n <div class=\"widget__contents\">\n <figure class=\"widget__figure\">\n <img class=\"widgetImage__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////static.euronews.com//articles//stories//08//92//88//60//808x608_cmsv2_cdad0363-0fb4-559b-9edd-d911c23fe3be-8928860.jpg/" alt=\"An aerial view of the buildings destroyed in Aleppo\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/88\/60\/384x288_cmsv2_cdad0363-0fb4-559b-9edd-d911c23fe3be-8928860.jpg 384w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/88\/60\/640x480_cmsv2_cdad0363-0fb4-559b-9edd-d911c23fe3be-8928860.jpg 640w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/88\/60\/750x563_cmsv2_cdad0363-0fb4-559b-9edd-d911c23fe3be-8928860.jpg 750w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/88\/60\/828x621_cmsv2_cdad0363-0fb4-559b-9edd-d911c23fe3be-8928860.jpg 828w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/88\/60\/1080x810_cmsv2_cdad0363-0fb4-559b-9edd-d911c23fe3be-8928860.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/88\/60\/1200x900_cmsv2_cdad0363-0fb4-559b-9edd-d911c23fe3be-8928860.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/88\/60\/1920x1440_cmsv2_cdad0363-0fb4-559b-9edd-d911c23fe3be-8928860.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 95vw, (max-width: 1330px) 70vw, 900px\"\/>\n <figcaption class=\"widget__caption\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionWrap\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionText\">An aerial view of the buildings destroyed in Aleppo<\/span>\n <span class=\"widget__captionCredit\">Can Erok for euronews<\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Monumental changes for a country that has been under the dynasty of Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez al-Assad, since the 1970s and that has endured one of the deadliest conflicts in recent history with the world watching. <\/p>\n<p>Walking through the rubbled streets, Ahmed is full of emotions years later. Remembering his friends who were killed here, he says: \u201cThis is the legacy they have left.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There are still old projectiles by the sidewalk, people living in and around heavily damaged buildings, and piles of rubble on the main roads and the back streets.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a school day, but dozens of children, many of them without winter gear, are waiting impatiently in line for food distribution at the exact same point that used to be the frontline between the al-Assad forces and the rebels until the evacuation.<\/p>\n<p>Ahmed, 33, who has been living in Azaz in the northern part of Aleppo province since forcibly leaving his home, says it\u2019s the first time he\u2019s come back here and seen the level of destruction.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a turning point, and he says he wishes for it to lead to \u201ca Syria for Syrian people\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>27-year-old Omar, who watches the new period unfold from his living room, which no longer has an outer wall, says the war has impacted his psychology deeply, but looking ahead, he is hopeful.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"widget widget--type-image widget--size-fullwidth widget--animation-fade-in widget--align-center\" data-ratio=\"0.6666666666666666\">\n <div class=\"widget__wrapper\">\n <div class=\"widget__ratio widget__ratio--auto\">\n <div class=\"widget__contents\">\n <figure class=\"widget__figure\">\n <img class=\"widgetImage__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////static.euronews.com//articles//stories//08//92//88//60//808x539_cmsv2_27320875-2454-540f-939f-3452529fb04d-8928860.jpg/" alt=\"Residents navigating daily life amid the ruins in Aleppo\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/88\/60\/384x256_cmsv2_27320875-2454-540f-939f-3452529fb04d-8928860.jpg 384w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/88\/60\/640x427_cmsv2_27320875-2454-540f-939f-3452529fb04d-8928860.jpg 640w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/88\/60\/750x500_cmsv2_27320875-2454-540f-939f-3452529fb04d-8928860.jpg 750w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/88\/60\/828x552_cmsv2_27320875-2454-540f-939f-3452529fb04d-8928860.jpg 828w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/88\/60\/1080x720_cmsv2_27320875-2454-540f-939f-3452529fb04d-8928860.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/88\/60\/1200x800_cmsv2_27320875-2454-540f-939f-3452529fb04d-8928860.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/88\/60\/1920x1280_cmsv2_27320875-2454-540f-939f-3452529fb04d-8928860.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 95vw, (max-width: 1330px) 70vw, 900px\"\/>\n <figcaption class=\"widget__caption\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionWrap\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionText\">Residents navigating daily life amid the ruins in Aleppo<\/span>\n <span class=\"widget__captionCredit\">Can Erok for euronews<\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Omar lived in Lebanon for five years after the war broke out, and he returned with his family because the conditions were very harsh for a refugee working as a stone smith. However, despite the challenges, \u201cthere\u2019s no place like my homeland,\u201d he says, <\/p>\n<p>While the civil war is giving way to a post-Al-Assad period, the fight between the FSA and the Kurdish militia holding positions east of the Euphrates River continues at various points.<\/p>\n<p>The Tishreen Dam on the Euphrates has been damaged, and two water stations were suspended, the United Nations has announced, in the fights between the US-backed Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces and the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army (FSA) forces in the past weeks.<\/p>\n<p>For Aleppo\u2019s over two million residents, it means they are left without water. And if the dam is further damaged, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warns some 40 villages could be flooded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cElectricity is only available for a few hours in the night,\u201d Sima, a 19-year-old computer engineering student from Aleppo, says. \u201cWe are suffering because we don\u2019t have water, electricity or proper internet.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When she was seven, she stopped going to school for three years because of the war. Now, she\u2019s back in school but is pessimistic about possibility to find a job once she graduates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can speak English and I study engineering, but I won\u2019t be able to find a job,\u201d she says. To be able to enjoy the victory over the former government, she adds that daily life needs have to be met.<\/p>\n<p>In Aleppo, schools have reopened, and Christians, who point to happiness over the ending of a conflict but remain cautious over HTS, have attended regular Sunday services.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Haroutioun Simonian, at the Catholic Latin Church in Aleppo, is coordinating the food distribution inside a yard for residents in need, and underlines they are \u201cstill living in a survival mode.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a big change for us,\u201d he says. \u201cThey guaranteed us our freedoms - freedom of faith, of expression, but we don\u2019t know until when or how. There is no law yet. There is no proper government\u2026 We will see.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As a man dances atop a camel, surrounded by a joyful crowd, right nearby, on the entrance of the medieval Aleppo Citadel, the new Syrian flag with three red stars and a green stripe is hung.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With drums rolling and nationalist slogans chanted, a celebration is in the making.<\/p>\n<p>But for residents of Aleppo and Syria alike, there are significant challenges ahead.<\/p>\n<p>Some 90% of Syrians are living under the poverty line, according to various international organisations, including the UN.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, more than six million people have been internally displaced, and just as many have become refugees across the world through the war.<\/p>\n<p>Ties with the Kurdish militia holding the northeast of the country and some neighbourhoods in Aleppo, whether HTS, a group widely acknowledged as a terror organization with past ties to al-Qaeda and its Syrian offshoot Jabhat Al-Nusra, will form an inclusive government and a civil constitution respectful of individual freedoms, Israel\u2019s land expansion, and rebuilding Syria\u2019s poor, damaged infrastructure, education system and human rights records among other big topics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a lot to do,\u201d Ahmed acknowledges. \u201cWe need everyone to rebuild Syria.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>HTS did not respond to Euronews' requests for comment.<\/p>\n","hashtag":null,"createdAt":1734961808,"updatedAt":1735033284,"publishedAt":1735025814,"firstPublishedAt":1735025814,"lastPublishedAt":1735033284,"expiresAt":0,"images":[{"sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"captionCredit":"Can Erok for euronews","altText":"Syrians wait to receive food in Aleppo","callToActionText":null,"width":3200,"caption":"Syrians wait to receive food in Aleppo","url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/88\/60\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_2b25cc25-5c74-5a18-ab6b-3d52eee60e17-8928860.jpg","captionUrl":null,"height":1967},{"sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"captionCredit":null,"altText":null,"callToActionText":null,"width":1500,"caption":null,"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/88\/60\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_27320875-2454-540f-939f-3452529fb04d-8928860.jpg","captionUrl":null,"height":1000},{"sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"captionCredit":null,"altText":null,"callToActionText":null,"width":1500,"caption":null,"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/88\/60\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_cdad0363-0fb4-559b-9edd-d911c23fe3be-8928860.jpg","captionUrl":null,"height":1125},{"sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"captionCredit":null,"altText":null,"callToActionText":null,"width":1500,"caption":null,"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/88\/60\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_ab1efe9d-17cd-567c-9c2f-796299fb4f09-8928860.jpg","captionUrl":null,"height":1000}],"authors":{"journalists":[],"producers":[],"videoEditor":[]},"keywords":[{"urlSafeValue":"tahrir-al-sham","titleRaw":"Hayat 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ALEPPO DESTRUCTION","channels":[{"id":1},{"id":2},{"id":3},{"id":4},{"id":5},{"id":10},{"id":12},{"id":14}],"status":2,"title":"Aleppo residents reflect on former President Assad's destructive regime","titleSeo":null,"titleListing1":"Aleppo residents reflect on former president's destructive regime","titleListing2":"Aleppo residents reflect on former President Assad's destructive regime","leadin":"Syrian and Russian forces battled to bring Syria's second city of Aleppo under Assad's full control for years, unleashing widespread devastation.","summary":"Syrian and Russian forces battled to bring Syria's second city of Aleppo under Assad's full control for years, unleashing widespread devastation.","keySentence":"","url":"aleppo-residents-reflect-on-former-president-assads-destructive-regime","canonical":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2024\/12\/22\/aleppo-residents-reflect-on-former-president-assads-destructive-regime","masterCms":"v2","plainText":"Following the sudden fall of former Syrian President, Bashar Al-Assad, residents of Aleppo have been reflecting on the horrors inflicted on them and their city under Al-Assad\u2019s control.\n\nA brutal dictatorship, Al-Assad\u2019s regime unleashed widespread devastation and destruction across Syria\u2019s second city.\n\nRussia propped up Assad's regime and its warplanes bombed Aleppo, a rebel-held city, for many months.\n\nHundreds of thousands were killed in the indiscriminate bombings, while the country\u2019s economic meltdown plunged most of its population into famine and drug trafficking ran rampant.\u00a0\n\nMillions of Syrian refugees, most of them in the countries neighbouring Syria, suffered poverty, legal precariousness and local populations who increasingly demanded their deportation. \n\n84-year-old Dr Obeid Diab was forced to flee from his home as Aleppo was bombed.\n\n\"They would hit indiscriminately. The jets would fly over and the bombs would drop. They\u2019d just fall, whether the wind blows it here or there, you just don\u2019t know. Is there a specific target in mind? I don\u2019t think so, they just hit and go,\" Dr Diab said.\n\nMany people Dr Diab knew were killed in these attacks, including his nine-year-old niece who he buried, alongside many other neighbourhood children, with his bare hands.\n\n\"We had to bury the children with our bare hands. First of all, there were the kids of this neighbourhood. Among them was my niece, this small, she was nine years old. She died. What can one say?\"\n\nCountless people also disappeared into the regime\u2019s brutal prison system, condemned to a life of torture and even death.\n\nAleppo resident Ali said he was arrested and jailed over unfounded accusations.\n\n\"Assad\u2019s criminal army came in, took us to prison, claiming we were affiliated with armed groups,\" he said. \n\nNow finally home, Ali said he stayed in his home in eastern Aleppo all the way through the siege in 2016 and for as long as he could after that, when regime militias were in control of the area.\n\nWith Assad in exile in Russia, the country's new authorities are investigating atrocities by Assad\u2019s forces, mass graves and an array of prisons run by the military, intelligence and security agencies notorious for systematic torture, mass executions and brutal conditions. \n\nWhile the future is still unclear, for many Syrians the fall of Al-Assad has brought hope for the first time.\n\n","htmlText":"<p>Following the sudden fall of former Syrian President, Bashar Al-Assad, residents of Aleppo have been reflecting on the horrors inflicted on them and their city under Al-Assad\u2019s control.<\/p>\n<p>A brutal dictatorship, Al-Assad\u2019s regime unleashed widespread devastation and destruction across Syria\u2019s second city.<\/p>\n<p>Russia propped up Assad's regime and its warplanes bombed Aleppo, a rebel-held city, for many months.<\/p>\n<p>Hundreds of thousands were killed in the indiscriminate bombings, while the country\u2019s economic meltdown plunged most of its population into famine and drug trafficking ran rampant.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Millions of Syrian refugees, most of them in the countries neighbouring Syria, suffered poverty, legal precariousness and local populations who increasingly demanded their deportation. <\/p>\n<p>84-year-old Dr Obeid Diab was forced to flee from his home as Aleppo was bombed.<\/p>\n<p>\"They would hit indiscriminately. The jets would fly over and the bombs would drop. They\u2019d just fall, whether the wind blows it here or there, you just don\u2019t know. Is there a specific target in mind? I don\u2019t think so, they just hit and go,\" Dr Diab said.<\/p>\n<p>Many people Dr Diab knew were killed in these attacks, including his nine-year-old niece who he buried, alongside many other neighbourhood children, with his bare hands.<\/p>\n<p>\"We had to bury the children with our bare hands. First of all, there were the kids of this neighbourhood. Among them was my niece, this small, she was nine years old. She died. What can one say?\"<\/p>\n<div class=\"widget widget--type-image widget--size-fullwidth widget--animation-fade-in widget--align-center\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\">\n <div class=\"widget__wrapper\">\n <div class=\"widget__ratio widget__ratio--auto\">\n <div class=\"widget__contents\">\n <figure class=\"widget__figure\">\n <img class=\"widgetImage__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////static.euronews.com//articles//stories//08//92//69//10//808x454_cmsv2_5876ced0-bf7c-5ae7-a649-529f830a1394-8926910.jpg/" alt=\"Dr Obeid Diab fled his home after the bombing began under Al-Assad's regime.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/69\/10\/384x216_cmsv2_5876ced0-bf7c-5ae7-a649-529f830a1394-8926910.jpg 384w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/69\/10\/640x360_cmsv2_5876ced0-bf7c-5ae7-a649-529f830a1394-8926910.jpg 640w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/69\/10\/750x422_cmsv2_5876ced0-bf7c-5ae7-a649-529f830a1394-8926910.jpg 750w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/69\/10\/828x466_cmsv2_5876ced0-bf7c-5ae7-a649-529f830a1394-8926910.jpg 828w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/69\/10\/1080x608_cmsv2_5876ced0-bf7c-5ae7-a649-529f830a1394-8926910.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/69\/10\/1200x675_cmsv2_5876ced0-bf7c-5ae7-a649-529f830a1394-8926910.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/69\/10\/1920x1080_cmsv2_5876ced0-bf7c-5ae7-a649-529f830a1394-8926910.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 95vw, (max-width: 1024px) 80vw, (max-width: 1280px) 55vw, 728px\"\/>\n <figcaption class=\"widget__caption\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionWrap\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionText\">Dr Obeid Diab fled his home after the bombing began under Al-Assad's regime.<\/span>\n <span class=\"widget__captionCredit\">AP Photo<\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Countless people also disappeared into the regime\u2019s brutal prison system, condemned to a life of torture and even death.<\/p>\n<p>Aleppo resident Ali said he was arrested and jailed over unfounded accusations.<\/p>\n<p>\"Assad\u2019s criminal army came in, took us to prison, claiming we were affiliated with armed groups,\" he said. <\/p>\n<p>Now finally home, Ali said he stayed in his home in eastern Aleppo all the way through the siege in 2016 and for as long as he could after that, when regime militias were in control of the area.<\/p>\n<p>With Assad in exile in Russia, the country's new authorities are investigating atrocities by Assad\u2019s forces, mass graves and an array of prisons run by the military, intelligence and security agencies notorious for systematic torture, mass executions and brutal conditions. <\/p>\n<p>While the future is still unclear, for many Syrians the fall of Al-Assad has brought hope for the first time.<\/p>\n","hashtag":null,"createdAt":1734878419,"updatedAt":1734887884,"publishedAt":1734887616,"firstPublishedAt":1734887616,"lastPublishedAt":1734887616,"expiresAt":0,"images":[{"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/69\/10\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_652ff7d1-0946-5c68-a5e3-f04e9a416540-8926910.jpg","altText":"Syrian children play next to a destroyed residential building at Hanano neighbourhood in the city of Aleppo, Syria.","caption":"Syrian children play next to a destroyed residential building at Hanano neighbourhood in the city of Aleppo, Syria.","captionUrl":null,"captionCredit":"AP Photo\/Khalil Hamra","sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"callToActionText":null,"width":1600,"height":900},{"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/69\/10\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_5876ced0-bf7c-5ae7-a649-529f830a1394-8926910.jpg","altText":null,"caption":null,"captionUrl":null,"captionCredit":null,"sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"callToActionText":null,"width":960,"height":540}],"authors":{"journalists":[],"producers":[],"videoEditor":[]},"keywords":[{"id":8155,"slug":"syria","urlSafeValue":"syria","title":"Syria","titleRaw":"Syria"},{"id":22784,"slug":"aleppo","urlSafeValue":"aleppo","title":"Aleppo","titleRaw":"Aleppo"},{"id":5728,"slug":"bashar-al-assad","urlSafeValue":"bashar-al-assad","title":"Bashar al-Assad","titleRaw":"Bashar al-Assad"},{"id":239,"slug":"russia","urlSafeValue":"russia","title":"Russia","titleRaw":"Russia"}],"widgets":[{"slug":"image","count":1}],"related":[{"id":2707106},{"id":2705076},{"id":2704942}],"technicalTags":[],"externalPartners":{"youtubeId":"3X51RUClRXg","dailymotionId":"x9b7i0m"},"hasExternalVideo":0,"video":1,"videos":[{"duration":104280,"editor":"","filesizeBytes":13379084,"format":"mp4","type":"normal","url":"https:\/\/video.euronews.com\/mp4\/med\/EN\/NW\/SU\/24\/12\/22\/en\/241222_NWSU_57341320_57341360_104280_173533_en.mp4","expiresAt":0,"quality":"md"},{"duration":104280,"editor":"","filesizeBytes":20131340,"format":"mp4","type":"normal","url":"https:\/\/video.euronews.com\/mp4\/EN\/NW\/SU\/24\/12\/22\/en\/241222_NWSU_57341320_57341360_104280_173533_en.mp4","expiresAt":0,"quality":"hd"}],"liveStream":[{"startDate":0,"endDate":0}],"scribbleLiveId":0,"scribbleLiveRibbon":0,"isLiveCoverage":0,"sourceId":1,"sources":[],"externalSource":"AP","additionalSources":"","additionalReporting":"Euronews","freeField1":null,"freeField2":"","type":"normal","displayType":"default","program":{"id":"world","urlSafeValue":"world","title":"World 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Alawites in Syria fear oppression","channels":[{"id":1},{"id":2},{"id":3},{"id":4},{"id":5},{"id":10},{"id":12},{"id":14}],"status":2,"title":"As thousands celebrate al-Assad's fall, Syrian Alawites remain cautious","titleSeo":null,"titleListing1":"As thousands revel in al-Assad's fall, Syrian Alawites remain cautious","titleListing2":"As thousands celebrate al-Assad's ouster, Syrian Alawites remain cautious","leadin":"Following Bashar al-Assad's recent ouster, ethnic Syrian Alawites have found themselves increasingly anxious over the future under HTS rule, while calls for rights protection and inclusive governance continue to rise.","summary":"Following Bashar al-Assad's recent ouster, ethnic Syrian Alawites have found themselves increasingly anxious over the future under HTS rule, while calls for rights protection and inclusive governance continue to rise.","keySentence":"","url":"as-thousands-celebrate-al-assads-fall-syrian-alawites-remain-cautious","canonical":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2024\/12\/19\/as-thousands-celebrate-al-assads-fall-syrian-alawites-remain-cautious","masterCms":"v2","plainText":"As thousands celebrate the ousting of President Bashar Al-Assad in Umayyad Square in central Damascus every day, many Syrian Alawites say concerns over the future of their country make them remain cautious, if not outright anxious.\n\nAfter Al-Assad fled to Russia on 8 December following a lightning military operation led by the rebels headquartered in the northern province of Idlib that took them all the way to the Syrian capital, a brutal civil war that\u2019s lasted for over 13 years came to an end.\n\nBut Ahmed*, a middle-aged receptionist, fears this could be the beginning of a new term of oppression for his family.\n\n\u201cWe are seeing videos from Latakia, where the HTS is rounding people up,\u201d he says, referring to the militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa. \n\n\u201cMy wife is crying every day and wants to leave,\u201d he says, whispering.\u00a0\n\nHTS, which at formerly espoused a global jihadist strategy, is designated as a terrorist organisation by European countries and the US alike.\u00a0Al-Sharaa, aka Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, is a Sunni Muslim with past ties to al-Qaeda, and its Syrian satellite, Jabhat Al-Nusra.\u00a0\n\nIn the past, there was even a $10-million (\u20ac9.6m) bounty on any information that could lead to al-Sharaa.\n\nBut recently, the US, the UK, France, Turkey, and others have all lined up to make high-level official contact with the group.\n\nSince al-Assad\u2019s fall, Jolani has started making statements in civilian clothing and even shortened his beard, a move largely believed to be a signal of his more moderate beliefs \u2014 but this hasn\u2019t really helped Ahmed and his family let go of their worries.\n\nAhmed says his anxiety over former jihadis now doesn\u2019t mean that he prefers al-Assad, under whose rule he and his compatriots suffered in poverty while tens of thousands of people disappeared, hundreds of thousands were killed, and millions of people became refugees across the world.\n\n\u201cBut they don\u2019t look anything like us,\u201d he says with concern, showing the headshots of the transition cabinet the HTS set up.\u00a0\n\nIdlib, where the HTS is based and has ruled since 2017, portrays a very conservative way of life, where most women cover their hair, hands and sometimes their faces from an early age and where most males have long beards.\n\nTo an outside observer, some of it might be reminiscent of places ruled by other religious extremists: In August, the Syrian Salvation Government, HTS\u2019 executive brand, imposed gender segregation in schools across Idlib.\u00a0\n\nThe policy foresaw \"distancing from [fashion] trends that are different to our religion's teachings and our traditions\" and the enforcement of \"Sharia-compliant attire\u201d.\n\nSharia courts exist across the province, according to the Syrian Observatory For Human Rights NGO.\n\nThe transitional government set to rule the entire country and led by the interim Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir, includes temporary ministers of interior, economy, health and judiciary, among others, who are expected to hold their positions until March, according to the HTS.\u00a0\n\nThe entire interim cabinet is made up of Sunni men. Yet Syria, a heartland of countless civilisations, is much more diverse than that.\n\nWhile a majority of the country\u2019s population of 24 million is made up of Sunnis, between 10-13% are Alawites, a branch of Islam and the largest minority group in Syria, which is also home to Kurds, Christians, Druze, and others.\n\nBashar al-Assad and his father, former President Hafez al-Assad, are themselves Alawites from Latakia and were known to have installed people from their ethnic group to high-level positions in the military and government since the 1970s, the beginning of their dynasty.\u00a0\n\nYet Syria\u2019s ordinary Alawites, mainly living in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus, but also a significant number residing in Damascus and Homs, were not favoured under al-Assad in terms of their freedoms, one young Syrian says.\n\n\u201cIt was worse for me under al-Assad,\u201d Hussein*, a 21-year-old engineering student, explains, standing in front of a small market dotting a small road in Mezzah 86, a neighbourhood of Damascus where many Alawites reside.\n\n\u201cI wasn\u2019t happy with al-Assad, but if I said that, I would be (considered) a traitor. So, double bad for me.\u201d\n\nNow, looking ahead, he says he would like to believe the promises made by the HTS since 8 December, including to protect his rights as a minority and not to go from one oppression to the other.\n\n\u201cNo one has the right to erase another group. These sects have coexisted in this region for hundreds of years, and no one has the right to eliminate them,\u201d al-Sharaa said in a television interview following the rebels' victory.\n\nOn Wednesday, he promised, too, that Syria will not become \"Afghanistan\u201d when it comes to girls\u2019 education.\n\nThese promises are important but need to be watched very closely, says Adam Coogle, deputy director of the Middle East-North Africa division at Human Rights Watch.\u00a0\n\n\u201cSyria's transitional authorities should protect the rights of all Syrians equally and make clear that acts of revenge outside the rule of law will not be tolerated,\u201d he urges.\u00a0\n\nMeanwhile, reports of Alawite soldiers being kept in HTS-held prisons continue to circulate, though Euronews cannot independently verify these claims.\n\nTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan\u2019s Justice and Development Party or AKP, the political actor with good relations with the HTS, has underlined the need for this to be a model that\u2019s \u201crespectful of freedom of faith\u201d.\n\nIn an interview given to local media recently, \u00d6mer \u00c7elik, the party\u2019s spokesman, said, \u201cSunnis will respect Shias, Shias will respect Sunnis ... A model where all ethnic and religious groups live together. We say, 'Syria belongs to Syrians\u2019.\"\u00a0\n\nHe also urged: \u201cIf there is no inclusive governance model, unfortunately, gains are lost and bigger conflicts arise. There needs to be a model of common will.\u201d\n\nLast Thursday, Syria\u2019s new government froze the constitution and the parliament for a period of three months.\n\nAt the moment, it\u2019s not yet clear whether a new Syria will have a civil constitution that is equal to all people from different backgrounds.\n\nSyrian Alawites who spoke to Euronews all said they would prefer that, and a Syria for all Syrian people.\n\n*The names of Syrians who spoke to Euronews were changed to protect their identities.\u00a0\n\n","htmlText":"<p>As thousands celebrate the ousting of President Bashar Al-Assad in Umayyad Square in central Damascus every day, many Syrian Alawites say concerns over the future of their country make them remain cautious, if not outright anxious.<\/p>\n<p>After Al-Assad fled to Russia on 8 December following a lightning military operation led by the rebels headquartered in the northern province of Idlib that took them all the way to the Syrian capital, a brutal civil war that\u2019s lasted for over 13 years came to an end.<\/p>\n<p>But Ahmed*, a middle-aged receptionist, fears this could be the beginning of a new term of oppression for his family.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are seeing videos from Latakia, where the HTS is rounding people up,\u201d he says, referring to the militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy wife is crying every day and wants to leave,\u201d he says, whispering.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>HTS, which at formerly espoused a global jihadist strategy, is designated as a terrorist organisation by European countries and the US alike.\u00a0Al-Sharaa, aka Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, is a Sunni Muslim with past ties to al-Qaeda, and its Syrian satellite, Jabhat Al-Nusra.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In the past, there was even a $10-million (\u20ac9.6m) bounty on any information that could lead to al-Sharaa.<\/p>\n<div class=\"widget widget--type-image widget--size-fullwidth widget--animation-fade-in widget--align-center\" data-ratio=\"0.75\">\n <div class=\"widget__wrapper\">\n <div class=\"widget__ratio widget__ratio--auto\">\n <div class=\"widget__contents\">\n <figure class=\"widget__figure\">\n <img class=\"widgetImage__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////static.euronews.com//articles//stories//08//92//14//10//808x608_cmsv2_dc026e62-2d46-5840-bf6d-07bfce9c1110-8921410.jpg/" alt=\"An aerial view of Damascus, Syria.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/14\/10\/384x288_cmsv2_dc026e62-2d46-5840-bf6d-07bfce9c1110-8921410.jpg 384w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/14\/10\/640x480_cmsv2_dc026e62-2d46-5840-bf6d-07bfce9c1110-8921410.jpg 640w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/14\/10\/750x563_cmsv2_dc026e62-2d46-5840-bf6d-07bfce9c1110-8921410.jpg 750w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/14\/10\/828x621_cmsv2_dc026e62-2d46-5840-bf6d-07bfce9c1110-8921410.jpg 828w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/14\/10\/1080x810_cmsv2_dc026e62-2d46-5840-bf6d-07bfce9c1110-8921410.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/14\/10\/1200x900_cmsv2_dc026e62-2d46-5840-bf6d-07bfce9c1110-8921410.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/14\/10\/1920x1440_cmsv2_dc026e62-2d46-5840-bf6d-07bfce9c1110-8921410.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 95vw, (max-width: 1330px) 70vw, 900px\"\/>\n <figcaption class=\"widget__caption\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionWrap\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionText\">An aerial view of Damascus, Syria.<\/span>\n <span class=\"widget__captionCredit\">Can Erok for euronews<\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>But recently, the US, the UK, France, Turkey, and others have all lined up to make high-level official contact with the group.<\/p>\n<p>Since al-Assad\u2019s fall, Jolani has started making statements in civilian clothing and even shortened his beard, a move largely believed to be a signal of his more moderate beliefs \u2014 but this hasn\u2019t really helped Ahmed and his family let go of their worries.<\/p>\n<p>Ahmed says his anxiety over former jihadis now doesn\u2019t mean that he prefers al-Assad, under whose rule he and his compatriots suffered in poverty while tens of thousands of people disappeared, hundreds of thousands were killed, and millions of people became refugees across the world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut they don\u2019t look anything like us,\u201d he says with concern, showing the headshots of the transition cabinet the HTS set up.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Idlib, where the HTS is based and has ruled since 2017, portrays a very conservative way of life, where most women cover their hair, hands and sometimes their faces from an early age and where most males have long beards.<\/p>\n<div class=\"widget widget--type-image widget--size-fullwidth widget--animation-fade-in widget--align-center\" data-ratio=\"0.7393333333333333\">\n <div class=\"widget__wrapper\">\n <div class=\"widget__ratio widget__ratio--auto\">\n <div class=\"widget__contents\">\n <figure class=\"widget__figure\">\n <img class=\"widgetImage__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////static.euronews.com//articles//stories//08//92//14//10//808x599_cmsv2_8650f382-1ef7-5bcc-90fc-d44fc0f9a20e-8921410.jpg/" alt=\"Syrian citizens celebrate atop an abandoned government tank in Damascus, Syria\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/14\/10\/384x284_cmsv2_8650f382-1ef7-5bcc-90fc-d44fc0f9a20e-8921410.jpg 384w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/14\/10\/640x473_cmsv2_8650f382-1ef7-5bcc-90fc-d44fc0f9a20e-8921410.jpg 640w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/14\/10\/750x555_cmsv2_8650f382-1ef7-5bcc-90fc-d44fc0f9a20e-8921410.jpg 750w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/14\/10\/828x612_cmsv2_8650f382-1ef7-5bcc-90fc-d44fc0f9a20e-8921410.jpg 828w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/14\/10\/1080x798_cmsv2_8650f382-1ef7-5bcc-90fc-d44fc0f9a20e-8921410.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/14\/10\/1200x887_cmsv2_8650f382-1ef7-5bcc-90fc-d44fc0f9a20e-8921410.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/92\/14\/10\/1920x1420_cmsv2_8650f382-1ef7-5bcc-90fc-d44fc0f9a20e-8921410.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 95vw, (max-width: 1330px) 70vw, 900px\"\/>\n <figcaption class=\"widget__caption\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionWrap\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionText\">Syrian citizens celebrate atop an abandoned government tank in Damascus, Syria<\/span>\n <span class=\"widget__captionCredit\">Can Erok for euronews<\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>To an outside observer, some of it might be reminiscent of places ruled by other religious extremists: In August, the Syrian Salvation Government, HTS\u2019 executive brand, imposed gender segregation in schools across Idlib.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The policy foresaw \"distancing from [fashion] trends that are different to our religion's teachings and our traditions\" and the enforcement of \"Sharia-compliant attire\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Sharia courts exist across the province, according to the Syrian Observatory For Human Rights NGO.<\/p>\n<p>The transitional government set to rule the entire country and led by the interim Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir, includes temporary ministers of interior, economy, health and judiciary, among others, who are expected to hold their positions until March, according to the HTS.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The entire interim cabinet is made up of Sunni men. Yet Syria, a heartland of countless civilisations, is much more diverse than that.<\/p>\n<p>While a majority of the country\u2019s population of 24 million is made up of Sunnis, between 10-13% are Alawites, a branch of Islam and the largest minority group in Syria, which is also home to Kurds, Christians, Druze, and others.<\/p>\n<p>Bashar al-Assad and his father, former President Hafez al-Assad, are themselves Alawites from Latakia and were known to have installed people from their ethnic group to high-level positions in the military and government since the 1970s, the beginning of their dynasty.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Yet Syria\u2019s ordinary Alawites, mainly living in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus, but also a significant number residing in Damascus and Homs, were not favoured under al-Assad in terms of their freedoms, one young Syrian says.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-widget-related\" data-stories-id=\"8912502\" data-event=\"widget_related\">\n <div class=\"c-widget-related__title\">\n <b class=\"c-widget-related__title__text\" lang=\"en\">Related<\/b>\n <\/div>\n <ul class=\"c-widget-related__list\">\n <li class=\"c-widget-related__item\"><a class=\"c-widget-related__article\" href=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////www.euronews.com//2024//12//15//syrias-kurds-fearful-of-the-future-after-islamist-rebels-seized-power/">Syria's Kurds fearful of the future after Islamist rebels seized power<\/a><\/li>\n <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt was worse for me under al-Assad,\u201d Hussein*, a 21-year-old engineering student, explains, standing in front of a small market dotting a small road in Mezzah 86, a neighbourhood of Damascus where many Alawites reside.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wasn\u2019t happy with al-Assad, but if I said that, I would be (considered) a traitor. So, double bad for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now, looking ahead, he says he would like to believe the promises made by the HTS since 8 December, including to protect his rights as a minority and not to go from one oppression to the other.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo one has the right to erase another group. These sects have coexisted in this region for hundreds of years, and no one has the right to eliminate them,\u201d al-Sharaa said in a television interview following the rebels' victory.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, he promised, too, that Syria will not become \"Afghanistan\u201d when it comes to girls\u2019 education.<\/p>\n<p>These promises are important but need to be watched very closely, says Adam Coogle, deputy director of the Middle East-North Africa division at Human Rights Watch.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSyria's transitional authorities should protect the rights of all Syrians equally and make clear that acts of revenge outside the rule of law will not be tolerated,\u201d he urges.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, reports of Alawite soldiers being kept in HTS-held prisons continue to circulate, though Euronews cannot independently verify these claims.<\/p>\n<p>Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan\u2019s Justice and Development Party or AKP, the political actor with good relations with the HTS, has underlined the need for this to be a model that\u2019s \u201crespectful of freedom of faith\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview given to local media recently, \u00d6mer \u00c7elik, the party\u2019s spokesman, said, \u201cSunnis will respect Shias, Shias will respect Sunnis ... A model where all ethnic and religious groups live together. We say, 'Syria belongs to Syrians\u2019.\"\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He also urged: \u201cIf there is no inclusive governance model, unfortunately, gains are lost and bigger conflicts arise. There needs to be a model of common will.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Last Thursday, Syria\u2019s new government froze the constitution and the parliament for a period of three months.<\/p>\n<p>At the moment, it\u2019s not yet clear whether a new Syria will have a civil constitution that is equal to all people from different backgrounds.<\/p>\n<p>Syrian Alawites who spoke to Euronews all said they would prefer that, and a Syria for all Syrian people.<\/p>\n<p><em>*The names of Syrians who spoke to Euronews were changed to protect their identities.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n","hashtag":null,"createdAt":1734614049,"updatedAt":1735122188,"publishedAt":1734622241,"firstPublishedAt":1734622241,"lastPublishedAt":1735122188,"expiresAt":0,"images":[{"sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"captionCredit":"AP Photo\/Omar Sanadiki","altText":"A damaged poster of the late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad is seen above the stands of stadium used as a military post in Damascus, 19 December 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SYRIA FIRST DOMESTIC FLIGHT","channels":[{"id":1},{"id":2},{"id":3},{"id":4},{"id":5},{"id":6},{"id":8},{"id":10},{"id":12},{"id":14}],"status":2,"title":"Flights resume in Syria","titleSeo":null,"titleListing1":"Flights resume in Syria","titleListing2":"Flights resume in Syria","leadin":"Syria's first domestic flight since the fall of Bashar al-Assad landed in Aleppo on Wednesday after taking off from the capital Damascus.","summary":"Syria's first domestic flight since the fall of Bashar al-Assad landed in Aleppo on Wednesday after taking off from the capital Damascus.","keySentence":"","url":"flights-resume-in-syria","canonical":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2024\/12\/18\/flights-resume-in-syria","masterCms":"v2","plainText":"After a period of no commercial airplanes taking off from Syria's airports as insurgent groups made their way towards its major cities, flights are now beginning to resume.\n\nCrews from the Syrian Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, were among the crowd that greeted a Syrian Air flight on arrival.\n\n","htmlText":"<p>After a period of no commercial airplanes taking off from Syria's airports as insurgent groups made their way towards its major cities, flights are now beginning to resume.<\/p>\n<p>Crews from the Syrian Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, were among the crowd that greeted a Syrian Air flight on arrival.<\/p>\n","hashtag":null,"createdAt":1734533206,"updatedAt":1734558846,"publishedAt":1734558419,"firstPublishedAt":1734558419,"lastPublishedAt":1734558429,"expiresAt":0,"images":[{"sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"captionCredit":"Capture d'\u00e9cran d'une vid\u00e9o EBU","altText":"The first domestic flight in Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime landed with honours in Aleppo, Syria, on 18.12.2024.","callToActionText":null,"width":1920,"caption":"The first domestic flight in Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime landed with honours in Aleppo, Syria, on 18.12.2024.","url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/94\/86\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_61a91677-7b2f-589f-bd92-46fead491e96-8919486.jpg","captionUrl":null,"height":1080}],"authors":{"journalists":[{"urlSafeValue":"mauduit","twitter":null,"id":2134,"title":"Frederique Mauduit"}],"producers":[],"videoEditor":[{"urlSafeValue":"mauduit","twitter":null,"id":2134,"title":"Frederique Mauduit"}]},"keywords":[{"urlSafeValue":"syria","titleRaw":"Syria","id":8155,"title":"Syria","slug":"syria"},{"urlSafeValue":"conflict-in-syria","titleRaw":"Conflict in Syria","id":11644,"title":"Conflict in Syria","slug":"conflict-in-syria"},{"urlSafeValue":"civial-aviation","titleRaw":"Civil Aviation","id":12992,"title":"Civil Aviation","slug":"civial-aviation"},{"urlSafeValue":"aleppo","titleRaw":"Aleppo","id":22784,"title":"Aleppo","slug":"aleppo"}],"widgets":[],"related":[{"id":2699654},{"id":2701154},{"id":2705850}],"technicalTags":[],"externalPartners":{"youtubeId":"nUh5J4pwY_k","dailymotionId":"x9b0sh6"},"hasExternalVideo":0,"video":1,"videos":[{"duration":60000,"editor":"","filesizeBytes":7927993,"format":"mp4","type":"normal","url":"https:\/\/video.euronews.com\/mp4\/med\/EN\/NC\/SU\/24\/12\/18\/en\/241218_NCSU_57309516_57309729_60000_155954_en.mp4","expiresAt":0,"quality":"md"},{"duration":60000,"editor":"","filesizeBytes":11609273,"format":"mp4","type":"normal","url":"https:\/\/video.euronews.com\/mp4\/EN\/NC\/SU\/24\/12\/18\/en\/241218_NCSU_57309516_57309729_60000_155954_en.mp4","expiresAt":0,"quality":"hd"}],"liveStream":[{"endDate":0,"startDate":0}],"scribbleLiveId":0,"scribbleLiveRibbon":0,"isLiveCoverage":0,"sourceId":1,"sources":[],"externalSource":null,"additionalSources":"","additionalReporting":"EBU 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UPDATE","channels":[{"id":1},{"id":2},{"id":3},{"id":4},{"id":5},{"id":10},{"id":12},{"id":14}],"status":2,"title":"Rebel group HTS gain foothold in Syria ten days after toppling Bashar al-Assad","titleSeo":null,"titleListing1":"HTS gain foothold in Syria ten days after toppling Bashar al-Assad","titleListing2":"Rebel group HTS gain foothold in Syria ten days after toppling Bashar al-Assad","leadin":"The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group is looking to restore life in Syria to pre-civil war times. The rebel group, which orchestrated the stunning downfall of President Bashar al-Assad, is continuing to push out messages of unity to a population severely scarred by decades of domestic division.","summary":"The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group is looking to restore life in Syria to pre-civil war times. The rebel group, which orchestrated the stunning downfall of President Bashar al-Assad, is continuing to push out messages of unity to a population severely scarred by decades of domestic division.","keySentence":"","url":"hts-gains-a-foothold-on-key-sectors-in-syria-only-10-days-after-toppling-bashar-al-assad","canonical":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2024\/12\/18\/hts-gains-a-foothold-on-key-sectors-in-syria-only-10-days-after-toppling-bashar-al-assad","masterCms":"v2","plainText":"The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group in Syria is consolidating its power just 10-days after the country\u2019s long-time autocratic president, Bashar al-Assad was dramatically removed from power.\n\nKey sectors of the country are slowly being dragged under their control with the latest two being the military and police forces.\n\nHTS which led a coalition of militias in a surprise offensive late November leading to al-Assad\u2019s downfall, has emerged as the top entity in Syria. In the last 10-days, they\u2019ve appointed a new interim government, and urged Syrians abroad, some displaced for over a decade, to return home.\n\nLife in Damascus is steadily returning to normal. Schools have been reopening and social services are being restored. Foreign embassies are also slowly reopening, the French flag was raised over its embassy in Damascus, a symbolic gesture from Paris. French officials confirmed a top diplomat has arrived at the Syrian capital; for the first time in 12 years, to engage in talks with the country\u2019s new administration.\n\nHTS, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa; formerly known by his alias Mohammed al-Golani, says they\u2019ve undergone internal reforms highlighted by a desire to create a Syria that\u2019s based on unity, nationalism and peace.\n\nHTS gains a foothold on Damascus police forces\n\nAbou Othma, who formerly headed the Idlib police, has been appointed by the HTS to manage all police stations in the capital.\n\nHe\u2019s been tasked with enforcing the group\u2019s new laws, which are yet to be rolled out. A new set of laws are set to come out soon, but for the time being, they\u2019re still under discussion.\n\nIt\u2019s a mountainous task ahead, as the Damascus police force must essentially be built from scratch. All police officers serving in the capital under al-Assad were replaced and their weapons recovered.\n\n\"Most of the former police officers fled straight away when we arrived. But we did arrest a few of them,\" said a man carrying a gun, who recently joined the new police force, and did not share his name.\n\nNew officers are being brought in from the northwestern Syrian city of Idlib, the stronghold of the ruling rebel group.\n\n\"I arrived here in Damascus seven days ago. We're just here to protect the population,\" said a newly appointed policeman who recently arrived from Idlib.\n\nThe Damascus police currently have very limited and restricted duties. Until the new laws are announced, they cannot enforce anything. Most of their day-to-day operations involves taking complaints from the public and providing assurances.\n\nA clear legal framework aside, Damascus police are also battling staff shortages.\n\n\"We clearly have a shortage of police officers. So we're going to open the doors of our establishment to those who want to join us. So, after evaluation, we will proceed with recruitment,\" says Damascus police chief, Abou Othma.\n\nFormer soldiers under al-Assad allowed to reconcile their status with the new interim government\n\nHundreds of Syrian soldiers and officers lined up on Tuesday outside a reconciliation centre in Latakia city in northern Syria.\n\nThe aim was to register their details with the new interim government so they could obtain new identity cards allowing them to freely live and roam around the country.\n\n\u201cWe have opened this centre in Latakia province, the centre receives all those who were affiliated with the former ousted regime. The idea of the reconciliation centre is to give the soldiers reconciliation ID for three months that allows him to move freely and safely in Syria,\" says Mohammad Mustafa, State Security officer in the interim government.\n\nFormer soldiers filled out application forms comprising their personal information. Their weapons are also confiscated before the process is complete.\n\n\"Those who are holding a weapon, it will be taken away from them, then applications will be filed with all the info, then new Identity cards are issued and delivered to them,\" noted Mohammad Mustafa.\n\nThe new HTS-appointed Syrian interim government gave safety assurances and amnesty to former soldiers and police officers who didn\u2019t partake in the torturing and killing of civilians during al-Assad\u2019s reign.\n\nThe new administration called on people to go back to work and urged Syrian refugees around the world to return to help rebuild.\n\nIt announced plans to rehabilitate and vet the security forces to prevent the return of \u201cthose with blood on their hands\".\n\n","htmlText":"<p>The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group in Syria is consolidating its power just 10-days after the country\u2019s long-time autocratic president, Bashar al-Assad was dramatically removed from power.<\/p>\n<p>Key sectors of the country are slowly being dragged under their control with the latest two being the military and police forces.<\/p>\n<p>HTS which led a coalition of militias in a surprise offensive late November leading to al-Assad\u2019s downfall, has emerged as the top entity in Syria. In the last 10-days, they\u2019ve appointed a new interim government, and urged Syrians abroad, some displaced for over a decade, to return home.<\/p>\n<div class=\"widget widget--type-image widget--size-fullwidth widget--animation-fade-in widget--align-center\" data-ratio=\"0.6669921875\">\n <div class=\"widget__wrapper\">\n <div class=\"widget__ratio widget__ratio--auto\">\n <div class=\"widget__contents\">\n <figure class=\"widget__figure\">\n <img class=\"widgetImage__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////static.euronews.com//articles//stories//08//91//78//48//808x539_cmsv2_3ad93952-b245-508e-a1db-c7a5ec79796b-8917848.jpg/" alt=\"A Syrian woman with a scarf in colors of "revolutionary" Syrian flag takes a selfie with her friends as they celebrate in a restaurant in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 17\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/78\/48\/384x256_cmsv2_3ad93952-b245-508e-a1db-c7a5ec79796b-8917848.jpg 384w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/78\/48\/640x427_cmsv2_3ad93952-b245-508e-a1db-c7a5ec79796b-8917848.jpg 640w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/78\/48\/750x500_cmsv2_3ad93952-b245-508e-a1db-c7a5ec79796b-8917848.jpg 750w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/78\/48\/828x552_cmsv2_3ad93952-b245-508e-a1db-c7a5ec79796b-8917848.jpg 828w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/78\/48\/1080x720_cmsv2_3ad93952-b245-508e-a1db-c7a5ec79796b-8917848.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/78\/48\/1200x800_cmsv2_3ad93952-b245-508e-a1db-c7a5ec79796b-8917848.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/78\/48\/1920x1281_cmsv2_3ad93952-b245-508e-a1db-c7a5ec79796b-8917848.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 95vw, (max-width: 1024px) 80vw, (max-width: 1280px) 55vw, 728px\"\/>\n <figcaption class=\"widget__caption\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionWrap\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionText\">A Syrian woman with a scarf in colors of "revolutionary" Syrian flag takes a selfie with her friends as they celebrate in a restaurant in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 17<\/span>\n <span class=\"widget__captionCredit\">Omar Sanadiki\/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved.<\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Life in Damascus is steadily returning to normal. Schools have been reopening and social services are being restored. Foreign embassies are also slowly reopening, the French flag was raised over its embassy in Damascus, a symbolic gesture from Paris. French officials confirmed a top diplomat has arrived at the Syrian capital; for the first time in 12 years, to engage in talks with the country\u2019s new administration.<\/p>\n<p>HTS, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa; formerly known by his alias Mohammed al-Golani, says they\u2019ve undergone internal reforms highlighted by a desire to create a Syria that\u2019s based on unity, nationalism and peace.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>HTS gains a foothold on Damascus police forces<\/strong><\/h2><p>Abou Othma, who formerly headed the Idlib police, has been appointed by the HTS to manage all police stations in the capital.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s been tasked with enforcing the group\u2019s new laws, which are yet to be rolled out. A new set of laws are set to come out soon, but for the time being, they\u2019re still under discussion.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a mountainous task ahead, as the Damascus police force must essentially be built from scratch. All police officers serving in the capital under al-Assad were replaced and their weapons recovered.<\/p>\n<p>\"Most of the former police officers fled straight away when we arrived. But we did arrest a few of them,\" said a man carrying a gun, who recently joined the new police force, and did not share his name.<\/p>\n<div class=\"widget widget--type-image widget--size-fullwidth widget--animation-fade-in widget--align-center\" data-ratio=\"0.6669921875\">\n <div class=\"widget__wrapper\">\n <div class=\"widget__ratio widget__ratio--auto\">\n <div class=\"widget__contents\">\n <figure class=\"widget__figure\">\n <img class=\"widgetImage__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////static.euronews.com//articles//stories//08//91//78//48//808x539_cmsv2_a66fedfe-51e8-5842-9f0e-ad9f112e7919-8917848.jpg/" alt=\"Syrian fighters sit in a street as they guard a police station in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/78\/48\/384x256_cmsv2_a66fedfe-51e8-5842-9f0e-ad9f112e7919-8917848.jpg 384w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/78\/48\/640x427_cmsv2_a66fedfe-51e8-5842-9f0e-ad9f112e7919-8917848.jpg 640w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/78\/48\/750x500_cmsv2_a66fedfe-51e8-5842-9f0e-ad9f112e7919-8917848.jpg 750w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/78\/48\/828x552_cmsv2_a66fedfe-51e8-5842-9f0e-ad9f112e7919-8917848.jpg 828w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/78\/48\/1080x720_cmsv2_a66fedfe-51e8-5842-9f0e-ad9f112e7919-8917848.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/78\/48\/1200x800_cmsv2_a66fedfe-51e8-5842-9f0e-ad9f112e7919-8917848.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/78\/48\/1920x1281_cmsv2_a66fedfe-51e8-5842-9f0e-ad9f112e7919-8917848.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 95vw, (max-width: 1024px) 80vw, (max-width: 1280px) 55vw, 728px\"\/>\n <figcaption class=\"widget__caption\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionWrap\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionText\">Syrian fighters sit in a street as they guard a police station in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024<\/span>\n <span class=\"widget__captionCredit\">Omar Sanadiki\/Copyright 2023 The AP. All rights reserved<\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>New officers are being brought in from the northwestern Syrian city of Idlib, the stronghold of the ruling rebel group.<\/p>\n<p>\"I arrived here in Damascus seven days ago. We're just here to protect the population,\" said a newly appointed policeman who recently arrived from Idlib.<\/p>\n<p>The Damascus police currently have very limited and restricted duties. Until the new laws are announced, they cannot enforce anything. Most of their day-to-day operations involves taking complaints from the public and providing assurances.<\/p>\n<p>A clear legal framework aside, Damascus police are also battling staff shortages.<\/p>\n<p>\"We clearly have a shortage of police officers. So we're going to open the doors of our establishment to those who want to join us. So, after evaluation, we will proceed with recruitment,\" says Damascus police chief, Abou Othma.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Former soldiers under al-Assad allowed to reconcile their status with the new interim government<\/strong><\/h2><p>Hundreds of Syrian soldiers and officers lined up on Tuesday outside a reconciliation centre in Latakia city in northern Syria.<\/p>\n<p>The aim was to register their details with the new interim government so they could obtain new identity cards allowing them to freely live and roam around the country.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have opened this centre in Latakia province, the centre receives all those who were affiliated with the former ousted regime. The idea of the reconciliation centre is to give the soldiers reconciliation ID for three months that allows him to move freely and safely in Syria,\" says Mohammad Mustafa, State Security officer in the interim government.<\/p>\n<p>Former soldiers filled out application forms comprising their personal information. Their weapons are also confiscated before the process is complete.<\/p>\n<div class=\"widget widget--type-image widget--size-fullwidth widget--animation-fade-in widget--align-center\" data-ratio=\"0.6669921875\">\n <div class=\"widget__wrapper\">\n <div class=\"widget__ratio widget__ratio--auto\">\n <div class=\"widget__contents\">\n <figure class=\"widget__figure\">\n <img class=\"widgetImage__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////static.euronews.com//articles//stories//08//91//78//48//808x539_cmsv2_0f81126a-d65c-52cd-9411-bd7e04b8644b-8917848.jpg/" alt=\"A member of Bashar Assad's army or a pro-government militia registers with Syrian rebels as part of an "identification and reconciliation" process at a compound in Latakia\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/78\/48\/384x256_cmsv2_0f81126a-d65c-52cd-9411-bd7e04b8644b-8917848.jpg 384w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/78\/48\/640x427_cmsv2_0f81126a-d65c-52cd-9411-bd7e04b8644b-8917848.jpg 640w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/78\/48\/750x500_cmsv2_0f81126a-d65c-52cd-9411-bd7e04b8644b-8917848.jpg 750w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/78\/48\/828x552_cmsv2_0f81126a-d65c-52cd-9411-bd7e04b8644b-8917848.jpg 828w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/78\/48\/1080x720_cmsv2_0f81126a-d65c-52cd-9411-bd7e04b8644b-8917848.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/78\/48\/1200x800_cmsv2_0f81126a-d65c-52cd-9411-bd7e04b8644b-8917848.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/78\/48\/1920x1281_cmsv2_0f81126a-d65c-52cd-9411-bd7e04b8644b-8917848.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 95vw, (max-width: 1024px) 80vw, (max-width: 1280px) 55vw, 728px\"\/>\n <figcaption class=\"widget__caption\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionWrap\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionText\">A member of Bashar Assad's army or a pro-government militia registers with Syrian rebels as part of an "identification and reconciliation" process at a compound in Latakia<\/span>\n <span class=\"widget__captionCredit\">Leo Correa\/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved.<\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>\"Those who are holding a weapon, it will be taken away from them, then applications will be filed with all the info, then new Identity cards are issued and delivered to them,\" noted Mohammad Mustafa.<\/p>\n<p>The new HTS-appointed Syrian interim government gave safety assurances and amnesty to former soldiers and police officers who didn\u2019t partake in the torturing and killing of civilians during al-Assad\u2019s reign.<\/p>\n<p>The new administration called on people to go back to work and urged Syrian refugees around the world to return to help rebuild.<\/p>\n<p>It announced plans to rehabilitate and vet the security forces to prevent the return of \u201cthose with blood on their hands\".<\/p>\n","hashtag":null,"createdAt":1734484075,"updatedAt":1734502762,"publishedAt":1734490635,"firstPublishedAt":1734490635,"lastPublishedAt":1734502762,"expiresAt":0,"images":[{"sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"captionCredit":"Leo Correa\/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved.","altText":"Members from Bashar Assad's Syrian army period line up to register with Syrian rebels as part of a \"identification and reconciliation process\" at a army compound in Latakia","callToActionText":null,"width":880,"caption":"Members from Bashar Assad's Syrian army period line up to register with Syrian rebels as part of a \"identification and reconciliation process\" at a army compound in Latakia","url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/78\/48\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_1619246c-7340-57d1-9abd-83c6d64aed68-8917848.jpg","captionUrl":null,"height":494},{"sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"captionCredit":null,"altText":null,"callToActionText":null,"width":1024,"caption":null,"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/78\/48\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_0f81126a-d65c-52cd-9411-bd7e04b8644b-8917848.jpg","captionUrl":null,"height":683},{"sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"captionCredit":null,"altText":null,"callToActionText":null,"width":1024,"caption":null,"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/78\/48\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_3ad93952-b245-508e-a1db-c7a5ec79796b-8917848.jpg","captionUrl":null,"height":683},{"sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"captionCredit":null,"altText":null,"callToActionText":null,"width":1024,"caption":null,"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/78\/48\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_a66fedfe-51e8-5842-9f0e-ad9f112e7919-8917848.jpg","captionUrl":null,"height":683}],"authors":{"journalists":[{"urlSafeValue":"fouda","twitter":null,"id":3270,"title":"Malek Fouda"}],"producers":[],"videoEditor":[]},"keywords":[{"urlSafeValue":"syria","titleRaw":"Syria","id":8155,"title":"Syria","slug":"syria"},{"urlSafeValue":"bashar-al-assad","titleRaw":"Bashar al-Assad","id":5728,"title":"Bashar al-Assad","slug":"bashar-al-assad"},{"urlSafeValue":"tahrir-al-sham","titleRaw":"Hayat Tahrir al-Sham","id":30244,"title":"Hayat Tahrir 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HTS leader says rebel factions that overthrew Assad will be \u2018disbanded\u2019","channels":[{"id":1},{"id":2},{"id":3},{"id":4},{"id":5},{"id":10},{"id":12},{"id":14}],"status":2,"title":"Syria's HTS leader says rebel groups will be 'disbanded' to join one army","titleSeo":null,"titleListing1":"Syria's HTS leader says rebel groups will be 'disbanded' to join army","titleListing2":"Syria's HTS leader says rebel groups will be 'disbanded' and join one army","leadin":"HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa pushed a message of unity in Syria as he sought to reassure minorities in the war-torn country.","summary":"HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa pushed a message of unity in Syria as he sought to reassure minorities in the war-torn country.","keySentence":"","url":"syrias-hts-leader-says-rebel-groups-will-be-disbanded-to-join-one-army","canonical":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2024\/12\/17\/syrias-hts-leader-says-rebel-groups-will-be-disbanded-to-join-one-army","masterCms":"v2","plainText":"Syria's rebel factions will be \"disbanded\" and trained to join the \"ranks of the defence ministry\" said the leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, which led rebel fighters to Damascus and toppled Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's regime. \n\nAhmed al-Sharaa, previously known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, added that all fighters would be \"subject to the law\" as he sought to reassure minorities in Syria that the group would protect citizens and continue state institutions in the multi-ethnic country. \n\n\u201cSyria must remain united,\u201d al-Sharaa said, according to the group\u2019s Telegram channel. \u201cThere must be a social contract between the state and all religions to guarantee social justice\u201d.\n\nIn a separate meeting, al-Sharaa said that international sanctions against Damascus should be lifted so that displaced refugees could return home. \n\nHe stressed the \"importance of restoring relations with London\" according to comments posted on the group's Telegram on Monday. \n\nLast week, the UK indicated it would review HTS' designation as a terrorist organisation, although British Prime Minister Keir Starmer then concluded it was \"far too early\" to make official assessments of the group. \n\nHTS is a former affiliate of al-Qaida and a listed terrorist organisation in the UK, US and European Union. The group cut ties with al-Qaida in 2016 and has renounced jihadism, although it has still been accused of various human rights abuses, including executions for blasphemy and adultery.\n\nIts designation as a terrorist group carries severe sanctions, including bans on weapons sales and oil imports.\n\nHTS establishes contact \n\nSince taking over power in the stunning overthrow of al-Assad's regime, HTS has worked to establish a smooth political transition in the country, including working with members of al-Assad's former government. \n\nNevertheless, Western countries have been cautious about lifting sanctions against Syria, although many have established initial contact with HTS. \n\nThe EU's new foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc should be ready to ease sanctions under the caveat that HTS takes \"positive steps\" to establish a government that respects women's and minority rights. \n\nHTS' spokesman Obeida Arnaout insisted that Syria had entered a new phase and that the government was looking to build good relations with its neighbours, calling the designation of HTS as a terrorist group \"not accurate\".\n\nSyria is home to multiple ethnic and religious communities that have spent years pitted against each other by al-Assad's state and a gruelling civil war. \n\nThe US-backed, Kurdish-led forces in northeast Syria are one such minority that control the semi-autonomous region and oversee detention centres housing IS militants. \n\nClashes over territory have already taken place in some areas between Kurdish forces and the armed groups that overthrew al-Assad.\n\nArnaout insisted that Kurds are part of the Syrian people and their rights will be protected but added that the new government would not accept any part of Syria to be outside of Damascus' control.\n\n\u201cKurds are one of the components of the Syrian people and we are very keen that this group has its rights protected,\u201d he said. \u201cThe social fabric in Syria is a source of strength and not weakness. But we affirm that we don\u2019t any part of Syria to be separated.\u201d\n\nThe UN envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, said Monday he met with the HTS leader and has since called for the lifting of international sanctions on Syria to allow for faster rebuilding.\n\nMeanwhile, a UK-based war monitor said on Monday that Israeli strikes which hit missile warehouses inside Syria were the \"most violent\" since 2012. \n\nIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that the strikes are necessary to combat groups that threaten Israeli interests by filling a \"power vacuum\" left behind by al-Assad.\n\nIsraeli troops have also seized a border buffer zone in the country, sparking condemnation from critics who say the move could constitute an exploitative land grab. \n\n","htmlText":"<p>Syria's rebel factions will be \"disbanded\" and trained to join the \"ranks of the defence ministry\" said the leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, which led rebel fighters to Damascus and toppled Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's regime. <\/p>\n<p>Ahmed al-Sharaa, previously known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, added that all fighters would be \"subject to the law\" as he sought to reassure minorities in Syria that the group would protect citizens and continue state institutions in the multi-ethnic country. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cSyria must remain united,\u201d al-Sharaa said, according to the group\u2019s Telegram channel. \u201cThere must be a social contract between the state and all religions to guarantee social justice\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In a separate meeting, al-Sharaa said that international sanctions against Damascus should be lifted so that displaced refugees could return home. <\/p>\n<p>He stressed the \"importance of restoring relations with London\" according to comments posted on the group's Telegram on Monday. <\/p>\n<p>Last week, the UK indicated it would review HTS' designation as a terrorist organisation, although British Prime Minister Keir Starmer then concluded it was \"far too early\" to make official assessments of the group. <\/p>\n<p>HTS is a former affiliate of al-Qaida and a listed terrorist organisation in the UK, US and European Union. The group cut ties with al-Qaida in 2016 and has renounced jihadism, although it has still been accused of various human rights abuses, including executions for blasphemy and adultery.<\/p>\n<p>Its designation as a terrorist group carries severe sanctions, including bans on weapons sales and oil imports.<\/p>\n<h2>HTS establishes contact<\/h2><p>Since taking over power in the stunning overthrow of al-Assad's regime, HTS has worked to establish a smooth political transition in the country, including working with members of al-Assad's former government. <\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, Western countries have been cautious about lifting sanctions against Syria, although many have established initial contact with HTS. <\/p>\n<p>The EU's new foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas <a href=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////www.euronews.com//my-europe//2024//12//16//eu-takes-first-step-to-make-contact-with-syrian-rebels-kallas-announces/">said <\/a>the bloc should be ready to ease sanctions under the caveat that HTS takes \"positive steps\" to establish a government that respects women's and minority rights. <\/p>\n<p>HTS' spokesman Obeida Arnaout insisted that Syria had entered a new phase and that the government was looking to build good relations with its neighbours, calling the designation of HTS as a terrorist group \"not accurate\".<\/p>\n<p>Syria is home to multiple ethnic and religious communities that have spent years pitted against each other by al-Assad's state and a gruelling civil war. <\/p>\n<div class=\"c-widget-related\" data-stories-id=\"8915294,8913608\" data-event=\"widget_related\">\n <div class=\"c-widget-related__title\">\n <b class=\"c-widget-related__title__text\" lang=\"en\">Related<\/b>\n <\/div>\n <ul class=\"c-widget-related__list\">\n <li class=\"c-widget-related__item\"><a class=\"c-widget-related__article\" href=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////www.euronews.com//my-europe//2024//12//16//eu-takes-first-step-to-make-contact-with-syrian-rebels-kallas-announces/">EU takes first step to make contact with Syrian rebels, Kallas announces<\/a><\/li><li class=\"c-widget-related__item\"><a class=\"c-widget-related__article\" href=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////www.euronews.com//2024//12//16//theres-no-reason-for-russian-troop-presence-in-syria-syrias-new-transitional-government/">Syria's new government says Russia should 'reconsider' its troops in country<\/a><\/li>\n <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The US-backed, Kurdish-led forces in northeast Syria are one such minority that control the semi-autonomous region and oversee detention centres housing IS militants. <\/p>\n<p>Clashes over territory have already taken place in some areas between Kurdish forces and the armed groups that overthrew al-Assad.<\/p>\n<p>Arnaout insisted that Kurds are part of the Syrian people and their rights will be protected but added that the new government would not accept any part of Syria to be outside of Damascus' control.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKurds are one of the components of the Syrian people and we are very keen that this group has its rights protected,\u201d he said. \u201cThe social fabric in Syria is a source of strength and not weakness. But we affirm that we don\u2019t any part of Syria to be separated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The UN envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, said Monday he met with the HTS leader and has since called for the lifting of international sanctions on Syria to allow for faster rebuilding.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, a UK-based war monitor said on Monday that Israeli strikes which hit missile warehouses inside Syria were the <a href=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////www.euronews.com//2024//12//16//israeli-airstrikes-in-syria-most-violent-since-2012-monitor-says/">/"most violent\"<\/a> since 2012. <\/p>\n<p>Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that the strikes are necessary to combat groups that threaten Israeli interests by filling a \"power vacuum\" left behind by al-Assad.<\/p>\n<p>Israeli troops have also seized a border buffer zone in the country, sparking condemnation from critics who say the move could constitute an exploitative land grab. <\/p>\n","hashtag":null,"createdAt":1734419994,"updatedAt":1734432056,"publishedAt":1734430897,"firstPublishedAt":1734430897,"lastPublishedAt":1734430897,"expiresAt":0,"images":[{"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/56\/44\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_77bcc2ae-56d1-54cc-a33d-347af7ba7ec2-8915644.jpg","altText":"A masked opposition fighter carries a flag of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in the courtyard of the Umayyad Mosque in the old walled city of Damascus, Syria, 2024.","caption":"A masked opposition fighter carries a flag of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in the courtyard of the Umayyad Mosque in the old walled city of Damascus, Syria, 2024.","captionUrl":null,"captionCredit":"AP Photo","sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"callToActionText":null,"width":1024,"height":576}],"authors":{"journalists":[{"id":2940,"urlSafeValue":"paternoster","title":"Tamsin Paternoster","twitter":null}],"producers":[],"videoEditor":[]},"keywords":[{"id":28396,"slug":"war-in-syria","urlSafeValue":"war-in-syria","title":"war in Syria","titleRaw":"war in Syria"},{"id":5728,"slug":"bashar-al-assad","urlSafeValue":"bashar-al-assad","title":"Bashar al-Assad","titleRaw":"Bashar al-Assad"},{"id":8155,"slug":"syria","urlSafeValue":"syria","title":"Syria","titleRaw":"Syria"},{"id":10547,"slug":"syrian-politics","urlSafeValue":"syrian-politics","title":"Syrian politics","titleRaw":"Syrian politics"}],"widgets":[{"slug":"related","count":1}],"related":[{"id":2704942},{"id":2704274},{"id":2704288}],"technicalTags":[],"externalPartners":[],"hasExternalVideo":0,"video":0,"videos":[],"liveStream":[{"startDate":0,"endDate":0}],"scribbleLiveId":0,"scribbleLiveRibbon":0,"isLiveCoverage":0,"sourceId":1,"sources":[],"externalSource":null,"additionalSources":"","additionalReporting":"","freeField1":null,"freeField2":"","type":"normal","displayType":"default","program":{"id":"world","urlSafeValue":"world","title":"World News","online":1,"url":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/programs\/world"},"vertical":"news","verticals":[{"id":1,"slug":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"News"}],"primaryVertical":{"id":1,"slug":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"News"},"themes":[{"id":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"World","url":"\/news\/international"}],"primaryTheme":{"id":1,"urlSafeValue":"news","title":"World"},"advertising":0,"advertisingData":{"startDate":0,"endDate":0,"type":null,"slug":null,"title":null,"disclaimerLabelKey":null,"sponsor":null,"sponsorName":null,"sponsorUrl":null,"sponsorLogo":"","sponsorLogoReverse":"","isDfp":0},"geoLocation":{"lat":0,"lon":0},"location":1,"continent":{"id":12,"urlSafeValue":"asia","title":"Asia"},"country":{"id":268,"urlSafeValue":"syria","title":"Syria","url":"\/news\/asia\/syria"},"town":[],"contextualSignals":{"doubleVerify":{"ids":["80023001","80122009","80122011","80222009","80222011","84111001","84112005","84211001","84212004"],"slugs":["aggregated_all_moderate_content","human_made_disasters_high_and_medium_risk","human_made_disasters_high_medium_and_low_risk","law_gov_t_and_politics_legal_politics","law_government_and_politics","society","society_ethnic_specific","terrorism_high_and_medium_risk","terrorism_high_medium_and_low_risk"]}},"grapeshot":null,"versions":[],"programDeliverable":{"slug":"sujet","format":"default"},"showOpinionDisclaimer":0,"allViews":0,"allViewsMeta":{"pointOfView":[],"survey":[],"tweetId":0,"tweet2NdId":0,"displayOverlay":0},"storyTranslationMethod":[],"localisation":[],"path":"\/2024\/12\/17\/syrias-hts-leader-says-rebel-groups-will-be-disbanded-to-join-one-army","lastModified":1734430897},{"id":2704942,"cid":8915294,"versionId":3,"archive":0,"housenumber":"241217_NWSU_57293356","owner":"euronews","isMagazine":0,"isBreakingNews":0,"daletEventName":"SYRIA DIPLOMACY UPDATE","channels":[{"id":1},{"id":2},{"id":4},{"id":5},{"id":10},{"id":12},{"id":14}],"status":2,"title":"Syria's new government says Russia should 'reconsider' its troops in country","titleSeo":null,"titleListing1":"Syria's new government says Russia should 'reconsider' its troops","titleListing2":"Syria's new government says Russia should 'reconsider' its troops","leadin":"Syria\u2019s new transitional government says there is no place for Russian presence in Syria a week after the country\u2019s long-time President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown. The new government also says it is open to engage in contacts with all countries to pave Syria\u2019s new future.","summary":"Syria\u2019s new transitional government says there is no place for Russian presence in Syria a week after the country\u2019s long-time President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown. The new government also says it is open to engage in contacts with all countries to pave Syria\u2019s new future.","keySentence":"","url":"theres-no-reason-for-russian-troop-presence-in-syria-syrias-new-transitional-government","canonical":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2024\/12\/16\/theres-no-reason-for-russian-troop-presence-in-syria-syrias-new-transitional-government","masterCms":"v2","plainText":"The Spokesperson for the political department of Syria\u2019s new transitional government has called on Russia to reconsider its presence in the country now that their ally; President Bashar al-Assad, has been overthrown.\n\nA convoy of Russian military vehicles was spotted traveling from the coastal city of Latakia, and were headed southward towards the city of Tartus.\n\nRussia operates two military bases in Syria: The Khmeimim Air Base near the port city of Latakia and the Tartus naval base on the Mediterranean coast. They are considered among the Kremlin\u2019s most strategically important military outposts.\n\nThe Tartus site is particularly critical, providing Russia with its only direct access to the Mediterranean Sea and a base to conduct naval exercises, station warships and even host nuclear submarines.\n\nWestern analysts and intelligence say the Kremlin is engaging in a large-scale withdrawal from Syria, though Moscow has yet to confirm.\n\nObeida Arnaout, the spokesman for Syria\u2019s new transitional government appointed by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group responsible for Assad\u2019s downfall, says Russia\u2019s recent movement in Syria has been ambiguous.\n\nHe stresses that their decision to remove navy ships from ports and move fleets of military vehicles from bases does not clearly indicate whether the Kremlin is indeed withdrawing, or if this is part of their regular movements.\n\n\u201cI think that Russia should reconsider its presence on Syrian territory as well as its interests,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cTheir interests were linked to the criminal Assad Regime. They can reconsider and take the initiatives to reach out to the new administration to show that they have no animosity with the Syrian people, and that the era of Assad regime is finally over,\u201d Arnaout added.\n\nArnaout says the new government has been holding talks at the highest level with many countries around the world. Speaking to Arabic media, he emphasised that Syria has entered a new phase, a phase focused on repairing decades of domestic division and almost 14-years of brutal fighting.\n\nHe continued saying that Syria\u2019s new policy is one of openness, an approach that seeks to build good relations with its neighbours and the wider world.\n\nOn Saturday, the US publicly confirmed for the first time its participation in talks with the HTS, the UK confirmed similar action the following day.\n\nAnd on Monday, the EU also announced it was taking its first step towards making contact with the rebel group. The move represents the strongest indication yet about the bloc's willingness to begin normalising ties with HTS.\n\n\"I've tasked a European top diplomat in Syria to go to Damascus to make the contacts with the new government and people there,\" said Kaja Kallas; EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, on Monday morning before heading into a meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers in Brussels, where the future of Syria is one of the main items on the agenda.\n\nIs a change in the HTS\u2019 terrorist designation on the horizon?\n\nThe HTS has been blacklisted for terrorism by the United Nations since 2014 due to its previous alliance with al-Qaeda. All 27 members of the EU follow that designation.\n\nBut it\u2019s a designation the HTS is hoping countries would quickly abandon. Arnaout says labelling the HTS as such is \u201cnot right and not accurate.\u201d He expressed the group\u2019s new operations are centred on unity and justice, and urged the EU, US, UK and other countries to reconsider the classification.\n\nAsked if the bloc should revise the terrorist designation to facilitate diplomacy, the EU High Representative said \"For us, it's not only the words, but we want to see the deeds going in the right direction. So not only what they are saying, but also what they are doing,\" Kallas said.\n\nShe continued saying \"I think the coming weeks and months will show whether it goes in the right direction.\"\n\nConcerns over the HTS\u2019 \u2018reformed\u2019 approach\n\nSince overthrowing Assad's regime, HTS has positioned itself as the leading force in the new political era, appointing a caretaker prime minister to administer a transitional government until March 2025. The group has also vowed to move the war-torn country from a state-controlled to a free-market economy to attract investors.\n\nHowever, HTS remains plagued by accusations of human rights abuses, including alleged executions for blasphemy and adultery carried out under a strict, and at times, extreme, interpretation of Islamic law. This background has raised doubts about the rebel force's ability to guarantee pluralism and tolerance after the fall of Assad.\n\nSyria is a highly diverse country, inhabited by Sunni Muslims, who represent over 70% of the population, alongside Shia Muslims, Alawites, Christians and ethnic minorities like Druze, Iraqis, Armenians, Assyrians, Kurds and Palestinians.\n\n","htmlText":"<p>The Spokesperson for the political department of Syria\u2019s new transitional government has called on Russia to reconsider its presence in the country now that their ally; President Bashar al-Assad, has been overthrown.<\/p>\n<p>A convoy of Russian military vehicles was spotted traveling from the coastal city of Latakia, and were headed southward towards the city of Tartus.<\/p>\n<div class=\"widget widget--type-image widget--size-fullwidth widget--animation-fade-in widget--align-center\" data-ratio=\"0.6669921875\">\n <div class=\"widget__wrapper\">\n <div class=\"widget__ratio widget__ratio--auto\">\n <div class=\"widget__contents\">\n <figure class=\"widget__figure\">\n <img class=\"widgetImage__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////static.euronews.com//articles//stories//08//91//52//94//808x539_cmsv2_d093ba00-4a7a-5c21-bd60-8ef12f11a0a5-8915294.jpg/" alt=\"A Russian soldier stands next to a Russian military convoy as it moves along a road near the Mediterranean town of Tartus, Syria, Monday Dec. 16, 2024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/52\/94\/384x256_cmsv2_d093ba00-4a7a-5c21-bd60-8ef12f11a0a5-8915294.jpg 384w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/52\/94\/640x427_cmsv2_d093ba00-4a7a-5c21-bd60-8ef12f11a0a5-8915294.jpg 640w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/52\/94\/750x500_cmsv2_d093ba00-4a7a-5c21-bd60-8ef12f11a0a5-8915294.jpg 750w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/52\/94\/828x552_cmsv2_d093ba00-4a7a-5c21-bd60-8ef12f11a0a5-8915294.jpg 828w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/52\/94\/1080x720_cmsv2_d093ba00-4a7a-5c21-bd60-8ef12f11a0a5-8915294.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/52\/94\/1200x800_cmsv2_d093ba00-4a7a-5c21-bd60-8ef12f11a0a5-8915294.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/52\/94\/1920x1281_cmsv2_d093ba00-4a7a-5c21-bd60-8ef12f11a0a5-8915294.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 95vw, (max-width: 1024px) 80vw, (max-width: 1280px) 55vw, 728px\"\/>\n <figcaption class=\"widget__caption\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionWrap\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionText\">A Russian soldier stands next to a Russian military convoy as it moves along a road near the Mediterranean town of Tartus, Syria, Monday Dec. 16, 2024<\/span>\n <span class=\"widget__captionCredit\">Leo Correa\/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved.<\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Russia operates two military bases in Syria: The Khmeimim Air Base near the port city of Latakia and the Tartus naval base on the Mediterranean coast. They are considered among the Kremlin\u2019s most strategically important military outposts.<\/p>\n<p>The Tartus site is particularly critical, providing Russia with its only direct access to the Mediterranean Sea and a base to conduct naval exercises, station warships and even host nuclear submarines.<\/p>\n<p>Western analysts and intelligence say the Kremlin is engaging in a large-scale withdrawal from Syria, though Moscow has yet to confirm.<\/p>\n<p>Obeida Arnaout, the spokesman for Syria\u2019s new transitional government appointed by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group responsible for Assad\u2019s downfall, says Russia\u2019s recent movement in Syria has been ambiguous.<\/p>\n<p>He stresses that their decision to remove navy ships from ports and move fleets of military vehicles from bases does not clearly indicate whether the Kremlin is indeed withdrawing, or if this is part of their regular movements.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that Russia should reconsider its presence on Syrian territory as well as its interests,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTheir interests were linked to the criminal Assad Regime. They can reconsider and take the initiatives to reach out to the new administration to show that they have no animosity with the Syrian people, and that the era of Assad regime is finally over,\u201d Arnaout added.<\/p>\n<div class=\"widget widget--type-image widget--size-fullwidth widget--animation-fade-in widget--align-center\" data-ratio=\"0.6669921875\">\n <div class=\"widget__wrapper\">\n <div class=\"widget__ratio widget__ratio--auto\">\n <div class=\"widget__contents\">\n <figure class=\"widget__figure\">\n <img class=\"widgetImage__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////static.euronews.com//articles//stories//08//91//52//94//808x539_cmsv2_995835b9-76cb-5930-a41f-afae75667789-8915294.jpg/" alt=\"Obeida Arnaout, spokesman for the political department of the new government speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/52\/94\/384x256_cmsv2_995835b9-76cb-5930-a41f-afae75667789-8915294.jpg 384w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/52\/94\/640x427_cmsv2_995835b9-76cb-5930-a41f-afae75667789-8915294.jpg 640w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/52\/94\/750x500_cmsv2_995835b9-76cb-5930-a41f-afae75667789-8915294.jpg 750w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/52\/94\/828x552_cmsv2_995835b9-76cb-5930-a41f-afae75667789-8915294.jpg 828w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/52\/94\/1080x720_cmsv2_995835b9-76cb-5930-a41f-afae75667789-8915294.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/52\/94\/1200x800_cmsv2_995835b9-76cb-5930-a41f-afae75667789-8915294.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/52\/94\/1920x1281_cmsv2_995835b9-76cb-5930-a41f-afae75667789-8915294.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 95vw, (max-width: 1024px) 80vw, (max-width: 1280px) 55vw, 728px\"\/>\n <figcaption class=\"widget__caption\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionWrap\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionText\">Obeida Arnaout, spokesman for the political department of the new government speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024<\/span>\n <span class=\"widget__captionCredit\">Omar Sanadiki\/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved.<\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Arnaout says the new government has been holding talks at the highest level with many countries around the world. Speaking to Arabic media, he emphasised that Syria has entered a new phase, a phase focused on repairing decades of domestic division and almost 14-years of brutal fighting.<\/p>\n<p>He continued saying that Syria\u2019s new policy is one of openness, an approach that seeks to build good relations with its neighbours and the wider world.<\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, the US publicly confirmed for the first time its participation in talks with the HTS, the UK confirmed similar action the following day.<\/p>\n<p>And on Monday, the EU also announced it was taking its first step towards making contact with the rebel group. The move represents the strongest indication yet about the bloc's willingness to begin normalising ties with HTS.<\/p>\n<p>\"I've tasked a European top diplomat in Syria to go to Damascus to make the contacts with the new government and people there,\" said Kaja Kallas; EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, on Monday morning before heading into a meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers in Brussels, where the future of Syria is one of the main items on the agenda.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Is a change in the HTS\u2019 terrorist designation on the horizon?<\/strong><\/h2><p>The HTS has been blacklisted for terrorism by the United Nations since 2014 due to its previous alliance with al-Qaeda. All 27 members of the EU follow that designation.<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s a designation the HTS is hoping countries would quickly abandon. Arnaout says labelling the HTS as such is \u201cnot right and not accurate.\u201d He expressed the group\u2019s new operations are centred on unity and justice, and urged the EU, US, UK and other countries to reconsider the classification.<\/p>\n<div class=\"widget widget--type-tweet widget--size-fullwidth widget--align-center\">\n <div class=\"widget__wrapper\">\n <div class=\"widget__ratio widget__ratio\u2014auto\">\n <div class=\"widget__contents\">\n <figure class=\"widget__figure\">\n <div class=\"widget__tweet\" data-tweet-id=\"1868685697386701263\"><\/div>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Asked if the bloc should revise the terrorist designation to facilitate diplomacy, the EU High Representative said \"For us, it's not only the words, but we want to see the deeds going in the right direction. So not only what they are saying, but also what they are doing,\" Kallas said.<\/p>\n<p>She continued saying \"I think the coming weeks and months will show whether it goes in the right direction.\"<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Concerns over the HTS\u2019 \u2018reformed\u2019 approach<\/strong><\/h2><p>Since overthrowing Assad's regime, HTS has positioned itself as the leading force in the new political era, appointing a caretaker prime minister to administer a transitional government until March 2025. The group has also vowed to move the war-torn country from a state-controlled to a free-market economy to attract investors.<\/p>\n<p>However, HTS remains plagued by accusations of human rights abuses, including alleged executions for blasphemy and adultery carried out under a strict, and at times, extreme, interpretation of Islamic law. This background has raised doubts about the rebel force's ability to guarantee pluralism and tolerance after the fall of Assad.<\/p>\n<p>Syria is a highly diverse country, inhabited by Sunni Muslims, who represent over 70% of the population, alongside Shia Muslims, Alawites, Christians and ethnic minorities like Druze, Iraqis, Armenians, Assyrians, Kurds and Palestinians.<\/p>\n","hashtag":null,"createdAt":1734382831,"updatedAt":1734422408,"publishedAt":1734388941,"firstPublishedAt":1734388941,"lastPublishedAt":1734419922,"expiresAt":0,"images":[{"sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"captionCredit":"Leo Correa\/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved.","altText":"A Russian army convoy moves along a road near the Mediterranean town of Tartus, Syria, Monday Dec. 16, 2024","callToActionText":null,"width":819,"caption":"A Russian army convoy moves along a road near the Mediterranean town of Tartus, Syria, Monday Dec. 16, 2024","url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/52\/94\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_2a1765de-8bc6-5763-b3b4-464eed6e7a85-8915294.jpg","captionUrl":null,"height":460},{"sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"captionCredit":null,"altText":null,"callToActionText":null,"width":1024,"caption":null,"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/52\/94\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_d093ba00-4a7a-5c21-bd60-8ef12f11a0a5-8915294.jpg","captionUrl":null,"height":683},{"sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"captionCredit":null,"altText":null,"callToActionText":null,"width":1024,"caption":null,"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/52\/94\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_995835b9-76cb-5930-a41f-afae75667789-8915294.jpg","captionUrl":null,"height":683}],"authors":{"journalists":[],"producers":[],"videoEditor":[]},"keywords":[{"urlSafeValue":"syria","titleRaw":"Syria","id":8155,"title":"Syria","slug":"syria"},{"urlSafeValue":"tahrir-al-sham","titleRaw":"Hayat 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politics","slug":"syrian-politics"}],"widgets":[{"count":2,"slug":"image"},{"count":1,"slug":"twitter"}],"related":[{"id":2704572},{"id":2704276},{"id":2703598}],"technicalTags":[],"externalPartners":{"youtubeId":"EXg49n3oaNc","dailymotionId":"x9awt5y"},"hasExternalVideo":1,"video":1,"videos":[{"duration":114000,"editor":"","filesizeBytes":14536527,"format":"mp4","type":"normal","url":"https:\/\/video.euronews.com\/mp4\/med\/EN\/NW\/SU\/24\/12\/17\/en\/241217_NWSU_57293356_57295446_114000_085541_en.mp4","expiresAt":0,"quality":"md"},{"duration":114000,"editor":"","filesizeBytes":21469007,"format":"mp4","type":"normal","url":"https:\/\/video.euronews.com\/mp4\/EN\/NW\/SU\/24\/12\/17\/en\/241217_NWSU_57293356_57295446_114000_085541_en.mp4","expiresAt":0,"quality":"hd"}],"liveStream":[{"endDate":0,"startDate":0}],"scribbleLiveId":0,"scribbleLiveRibbon":0,"isLiveCoverage":0,"sourceId":1,"sources":[],"externalSource":"AP","additionalSources":"","additionalReporting":"Euronews","freeField1":null,"freeField2":"","type":"normal","displayType":"default","program":{"id":"world","urlSafeValue":"world","title":"World News","online":1,"url":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/programs\/world"},"vertical":"news","verticals":[{"urlSafeValue":"news","id":1,"title":"News","slug":"news"}],"primaryVertical":{"id":1,"slug":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"News"},"themes":[{"urlSafeValue":"news","id":"news","title":"World","url":"\/news\/international"}],"primaryTheme":{"id":1,"urlSafeValue":"news","title":"World"},"advertising":0,"advertisingData":{"startDate":0,"endDate":0,"type":null,"slug":null,"title":null,"disclaimerLabelKey":null,"sponsor":null,"sponsorName":null,"sponsorUrl":null,"sponsorLogo":"","sponsorLogoReverse":"","isDfp":0},"geoLocation":{"lat":0,"lon":0},"location":1,"continent":{"id":12,"urlSafeValue":"asia","title":"Asia"},"country":{"id":268,"urlSafeValue":"syria","title":"Syria","url":"\/news\/asia\/syria"},"town":[],"contextualSignals":{"doubleVerify":{"ids":["80023001","80122011","84111001","84112005","84181001","84182008"],"slugs":["aggregated_all_moderate_content","law_gov_t_and_politics_legal_politics","law_government_and_politics","religion_and_spirituality","religion_and_spirituality_islam","terrorism_high_medium_and_low_risk"]}},"grapeshot":null,"versions":[],"programDeliverable":{"slug":"sujet","format":"default"},"showOpinionDisclaimer":0,"allViews":0,"allViewsMeta":{"pointOfView":[],"survey":[],"tweetId":0,"tweet2NdId":0,"displayOverlay":0},"storyTranslationMethod":[],"localisation":[],"path":"\/2024\/12\/16\/theres-no-reason-for-russian-troop-presence-in-syria-syrias-new-transitional-government","lastModified":1734419922},{"id":2704288,"cid":8913702,"versionId":1,"archive":0,"housenumber":"241216_NWSU_57286839","owner":"euronews","isMagazine":0,"isBreakingNews":0,"daletEventName":"ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES IN SYRIA 'MOST VIOLENT' SINCE 2012","channels":[{"id":1},{"id":2},{"id":3},{"id":4},{"id":5},{"id":10},{"id":12},{"id":14}],"status":2,"title":"Israeli airstrikes in Syria 'most violent' since 2012, monitor says","titleSeo":null,"titleListing1":"Israeli airstrikes in Syria 'most violent' since 2012, monitor says","titleListing2":"Israeli airstrikes in Syria 'most violent' since 2012, monitor says","leadin":"The Israeli military says it is only hitting military targets in Syria after the collapse of President Bashar al-Assad's rule last weekend following a stunning rebel advance.","summary":"The Israeli military says it is only hitting military targets in Syria after the collapse of President Bashar al-Assad's rule last weekend following a stunning rebel advance.","keySentence":"","url":"israeli-airstrikes-in-syria-most-violent-since-2012-monitor-says","canonical":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2024\/12\/16\/israeli-airstrikes-in-syria-most-violent-since-2012-monitor-says","masterCms":"v2","plainText":"Israeli airstrikes in Syria are the \"most violent\" since 2012, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. \n\nAccording to the data from the organisation that has been monitoring the war in Syria for over a decade, Israel has struck its neighbour more than 450 times since Bashar al-Assad fled last weekend, destroying Syria's navy and countless air bases and military equipment along Syria's coast.\n\nMost recently, Israeli missiles have pounded Syrian missile warehouses and former army sites 75 times in attacks beginning on Saturday night near the cities of Hama, Homs, and the capital of Damascus, according to the group. \n\nLast week, Israel's military also seized control of the summit of Mount Hernon \u2014 part of a demilitarised buffer zone created as part of a 1974 ceasefire between the two countries. \n\nIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted the move is temporary and necessary to secure stability on the border. \n\nHe has not yet given a timeline for Israel's departure from the territory despite receiving backlash from the international community that the move violated a ceasefire agreement between the two countries and could constitute an exploitative land grab. \n\nUN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that the peacekeepers warned Israel its move would \"constitute a violation of the 1974 disengagement agreement\", which stipulates there should be no soldiers in the area. \n\nThe head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the rebel group that led forces through Syria and claimed Damascus over the last weekend, called Israel's territorial seizures \"unwarranted\".\n\nSpeaking on Syria TV, Ahmed al-Sharaa, previously known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, added that, at the same time, the country could not afford to withstand any more conflict. \n\n\u201cSyria\u2019s war-weary condition, after years of conflict and war, does not allow for new confrontations,\u201d al-Sharaa said. \"The priority at this stage is reconstruction and stability, not being drawn into disputes that could lead to further destruction.\u201d\n\nLast week, France urged Israel to withdraw from the buffer zone separating the two countries, echoing calls from Arab countries to respect Syria's sovereignty. \n\nA 'vacuum'\n\nDespite calls to retreat, Netanyahu argued that Israel's strikes were necessary to stem the development of alleged \"jihadi groups\" that threatened Israeli security. \n\nUS Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed his statement on Thursday, saying that Israel informed the Biden administration of its temporary presence in Syria to ensure this \"vacuum isn't filled by something bad\".\n\nHTS currently have power in Syria. The group is a classified terrorist organisation in the US, UK and Europe over its links to al-Qaeda. In recent years, it has pursued a moderate stance and, since taking power from al-Assad, has promised to resume government services and pushed for moderate governance. \n\nUS officials confirmed on Saturday that they were in direct contact with HTS and several other countries. Blinken said he signed off on a set of principles meant to guide Syria\u2019s transition to a peaceful, nonsectarian and inclusive country.\n\nCurrently, it is unclear how other foreign powers will protect their interests in Syria since the shock collapse of al-Assad's regime. Russia, which has two military bases in the country, has not yet formally said what would happen with its forces based there. \n\nTurkish Defence Minister Ya\u015far G\u00fcler told local media that he didn't think Russia would leave, saying, \" They\u2019ll do everything they can to stay.\u201d\n\nG\u00fcler added that Turkey, who has long had links with the rebels that overtook Damascus, had offered Russia help in communication with Syria's new leadership. \n\nCurrently, the transitional administration in Damascus announced that schools and universities were to start classes again on Sunday as the country. Authorities led by HTS said they aimed to re-establish public services to bring the country to a sense of normalcy. \n\n","htmlText":"<p>Israeli airstrikes in Syria are the \"most violent\" since 2012, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. <\/p>\n<p>According to the data from the organisation that has been monitoring the war in Syria for over a decade, Israel has struck its neighbour more than 450 times since Bashar al-Assad fled last weekend, destroying Syria's navy and countless air bases and military equipment along Syria's coast.<\/p>\n<p>Most recently, Israeli missiles have pounded Syrian missile warehouses and former army sites 75 times in attacks beginning on Saturday night near the cities of Hama, Homs, and the capital of Damascus, according to the group. <\/p>\n<p>Last week, Israel's military also seized control of the summit of Mount Hernon \u2014 part of a demilitarised buffer zone created as part of a 1974 ceasefire between the two countries. <\/p>\n<p>Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted the move is temporary and necessary to secure stability on the border. <\/p>\n<p>He has not yet given a timeline for Israel's departure from the territory despite receiving backlash from the international community that the move violated a ceasefire agreement between the two countries and could constitute an exploitative land grab. <\/p>\n<div class=\"c-widget-related\" data-stories-id=\"8913040,8907938\" data-event=\"widget_related\">\n <div class=\"c-widget-related__title\">\n <b class=\"c-widget-related__title__text\" lang=\"en\">Related<\/b>\n <\/div>\n <ul class=\"c-widget-related__list\">\n <li class=\"c-widget-related__item\"><a class=\"c-widget-related__article\" href=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////www.euronews.com//my-europe//2024//12//13//its-not-safe-yet-syrian-diaspora-in-europe-caught-between-joy-and-anxiety/">'It's not safe yet': Syrian diaspora in Europe caught between joy and anxiety<\/a><\/li><li class=\"c-widget-related__item\"><a class=\"c-widget-related__article\" href=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////www.euronews.com//2024//12//15//israel-approves-plans-to-up-golan-heights-settler-numbers-as-new-front-opens-in-syria/">Israel plans to expand into Golan Heights in a 'new front' in Syria<\/a><\/li>\n <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that the peacekeepers warned Israel its move would \"constitute a violation of the 1974 disengagement agreement\", which stipulates there should be no soldiers in the area. <\/p>\n<p>The head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the rebel group that led forces through Syria and claimed Damascus over the last weekend, called Israel's territorial seizures \"unwarranted\".<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on Syria TV, Ahmed al-Sharaa, previously known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, added that, at the same time, the country could not afford to withstand any more conflict. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cSyria\u2019s war-weary condition, after years of conflict and war, does not allow for new confrontations,\u201d al-Sharaa said. \"The priority at this stage is reconstruction and stability, not being drawn into disputes that could lead to further destruction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Last week, France urged Israel to withdraw from the buffer zone separating the two countries, echoing calls from Arab countries to respect Syria's sovereignty. <\/p>\n<h2>A 'vacuum'<\/h2><p>Despite calls to retreat, Netanyahu argued that Israel's strikes were necessary to stem the development of alleged \"jihadi groups\" that threatened Israeli security. <\/p>\n<p>US Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed his statement on Thursday, saying that Israel informed the Biden administration of its temporary presence in Syria to ensure this \"vacuum isn't filled by something bad\".<\/p>\n<p>HTS currently have power in Syria. The group is a classified terrorist organisation in the US, UK and Europe over its links to al-Qaeda. In recent years, it has pursued a moderate stance and, since taking power from al-Assad, has promised to resume government services and pushed for moderate governance. <\/p>\n<p>US officials confirmed on Saturday that they were in direct contact with HTS and several other countries. Blinken said he signed off on a set of principles meant to guide Syria\u2019s transition to a peaceful, nonsectarian and inclusive country.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, it is unclear how other foreign powers will protect their interests in Syria since the shock collapse of al-Assad's regime. Russia, which has two military bases in the country, has not yet formally said what would happen with its forces based there. <\/p>\n<p>Turkish Defence Minister Ya\u015far G\u00fcler told local media that he didn't think Russia would leave, saying, \" They\u2019ll do everything they can to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>G\u00fcler added that Turkey, who has long had links with the rebels that overtook Damascus, had offered Russia help in communication with Syria's new leadership. <\/p>\n<p>Currently, the transitional administration in Damascus announced that schools and universities were to start classes again on Sunday as the country. Authorities led by HTS said they aimed to re-establish public services to bring the country to a sense of normalcy. <\/p>\n","hashtag":null,"createdAt":1734339608,"updatedAt":1734348765,"publishedAt":1734344980,"firstPublishedAt":1734344980,"lastPublishedAt":1734344980,"expiresAt":0,"images":[{"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/37\/02\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_3f926479-2751-5d5f-a069-d3e17c241aa9-8913702.jpg","altText":"Israeli soldiers cross the security fence moving towards the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights from Syria, in the town of Majdal Shams.","caption":"Israeli soldiers cross the security fence moving towards the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights from Syria, in the town of Majdal Shams.","captionUrl":null,"captionCredit":"AP Photo","sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"callToActionText":null,"width":1024,"height":576}],"authors":{"journalists":[{"id":2940,"urlSafeValue":"paternoster","title":"Tamsin Paternoster","twitter":null}],"producers":[],"videoEditor":[]},"keywords":[{"id":157,"slug":"israel","urlSafeValue":"israel","title":"Israel","titleRaw":"Israel"},{"id":5412,"slug":"benjamin-netanyahu","urlSafeValue":"benjamin-netanyahu","title":"Benjamin Netanyahu","titleRaw":"Benjamin Netanyahu"},{"id":28396,"slug":"war-in-syria","urlSafeValue":"war-in-syria","title":"war in Syria","titleRaw":"war in Syria"},{"id":8155,"slug":"syria","urlSafeValue":"syria","title":"Syria","titleRaw":"Syria"}],"widgets":[{"slug":"related","count":1}],"related":[{"id":2704060},{"id":2703836}],"technicalTags":[],"externalPartners":[],"hasExternalVideo":0,"video":0,"videos":[],"liveStream":[{"startDate":0,"endDate":0}],"scribbleLiveId":0,"scribbleLiveRibbon":0,"isLiveCoverage":0,"sourceId":1,"sources":[],"externalSource":null,"additionalSources":"AP ","additionalReporting":"","freeField1":null,"freeField2":"","type":"normal","displayType":"default","program":{"id":"world","urlSafeValue":"world","title":"World News","online":1,"url":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/programs\/world"},"vertical":"news","verticals":[{"id":1,"slug":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"News"}],"primaryVertical":{"id":1,"slug":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"News"},"themes":[{"id":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"World","url":"\/news\/international"}],"primaryTheme":{"id":1,"urlSafeValue":"news","title":"World"},"advertising":0,"advertisingData":{"startDate":0,"endDate":0,"type":null,"slug":null,"title":null,"disclaimerLabelKey":null,"sponsor":null,"sponsorName":null,"sponsorUrl":null,"sponsorLogo":"","sponsorLogoReverse":"","isDfp":0},"geoLocation":{"lat":0,"lon":0},"location":1,"continent":{"id":12,"urlSafeValue":"asia","title":"Asia"},"country":{"id":268,"urlSafeValue":"syria","title":"Syria","url":"\/news\/asia\/syria"},"town":[],"contextualSignals":{"doubleVerify":{"ids":["80023001","80122009","80122011","80222009","80222011","84111001","84112005","84211001","84212001"],"slugs":["aggregated_all_moderate_content","human_made_disasters_high_and_medium_risk","human_made_disasters_high_medium_and_low_risk","law_gov_t_and_politics_legal_politics","law_government_and_politics","society","society_general","terrorism_high_and_medium_risk","terrorism_high_medium_and_low_risk"]}},"grapeshot":null,"versions":[],"programDeliverable":{"slug":"sujet","format":"default"},"showOpinionDisclaimer":0,"allViews":0,"allViewsMeta":{"pointOfView":[],"survey":[],"tweetId":0,"tweet2NdId":0,"displayOverlay":0},"storyTranslationMethod":[],"localisation":[],"path":"\/2024\/12\/16\/israeli-airstrikes-in-syria-most-violent-since-2012-monitor-says","lastModified":1734344980},{"id":2703678,"cid":8912502,"versionId":1,"archive":0,"housenumber":"241215_NWSU_57281819","owner":"euronews","isMagazine":0,"isBreakingNews":0,"daletEventName":"SYRIA KURDS FEARS FOR FUTURE","channels":[{"id":1},{"id":2},{"id":3},{"id":4},{"id":5},{"id":10},{"id":12},{"id":14}],"status":2,"title":"Syria's Kurds fearful of the future after Islamist rebels seized power","titleSeo":null,"titleListing1":"Syria's Kurds fearful of the future after Islamist rebels seized power","titleListing2":"Syria's Kurds fearful of the future after Islamist rebels seized power","leadin":"One week after President Bashir al-Assad's regime was toppled the Kurdish region in the north is neither as calm nor as relieved as the rest of Syria.","summary":"One week after President Bashir al-Assad's regime was toppled the Kurdish region in the north is neither as calm nor as relieved as the rest of Syria.","keySentence":"","url":"syrias-kurds-fearful-of-the-future-after-islamist-rebels-seized-power","canonical":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2024\/12\/15\/syrias-kurds-fearful-of-the-future-after-islamist-rebels-seized-power","masterCms":"v2","plainText":"The north of Syria is the homeland of Syria's Kurds, the country's largest ethnic minority, who are also the US's closest ally in the country. For them, the struggle for a new order is entering a potentially even more challenging phase.\n\nOver the course of Syria\u2019s civil war, Kurdish fighters have fended off an array of armed factions, partnered with the U.S. to rout the Islamic State group and carved out a largely autonomous region in the country\u2019s oil-rich east.\n\nBut the gains of the non-Arab Kurds are now at risk. The ascendance of the Sunni Arab rebels who overthrew Assad \u2014 with vital help from Turkey, a long-time foe of the Kurds \u2014 will make it hard for the Kurds to find a place in the new Syria and could prolong the conflict.\n\nThe jihadi rebels who rode into Damascus last weekend have made peaceful overtures to the Kurds. But the rebels violently drove Kurdish fighters out of the eastern city of Deir al-Zour days after government forces abandoned it.\n\nTo the north, a separate opposition faction backed by Turkey that has been battling the Kurds for years seized the town of Manbij. And Turkey carried out airstrikes on a Kurdish convoy it said was carrying heavy weapons looted from government arsenals.\n\nThe Kurds have long counted on U.S. aid in the face of such challenges. Around 900 American troops are in eastern Syria, where they partner with Kurdish forces to prevent an Islamic State resurgence. But the future of that mission will be thrown into doubt under president-elect Donald Trump, who has long been sceptical about U.S. involvement in Syria.\n\nAnd in the city of Qamishli, on the border with Turkey, few dare to think of either peace or a new beginning at the moment. \n\nA spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is led by Kurdish forces and has the backing of the US, said that since President Bashir al-Assad's regime fell Islamic State \"are now moving freely around the rest of Syria.\"\n\n\"There are hundreds of Islamic State (IS) fighters there, they have IS logos on their uniforms and shout IS battle cries, Siamand Ali told a camera crew from Gemany's ARD TV station earlier this week.\n\n\"In my view, the new rulers in Damascus share the same ideology as IS,\" he added.\n\nMeanwhile, one Kurdish man described the ongoing threat from Turkish forces.\n\n\"We have been experiencing these attacks for four years. Turkish drones pretending to attack military targets. But in reality, they hit many civilian targets. That scares all the inhabitants,\" Azad Ismael said.\n\nWho are the U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters in Syria?\n\nThe Kurds are among the largest stateless ethnic groups in the world, with some 30 million concentrated in a territory straddling Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. They are a minority in each country and have often suffered persecution, which has fuelled armed Kurdish uprisings.\n\nIn Syria, they carved out an autonomous enclave early in the civil war, never fully siding with the Assad government or the rebels seeking to topple him.\n\nWhen the Islamic State group seized a third of the country in 2014, Kurdish fighters \u2014 who are secular and include women in their ranks \u2014 proved their mettle in early battles against the extremists, earning support from the U.S.-led coalition.\n\nThey formed the SDF, which also includes Arab fighters, and drove the Islamic State group out of large areas of Syria with help from U.S.-led airstrikes and American special forces. In 2017, these Kurdish-led forces captured Raqqa, the capital of the extremists\u2019 self-styled caliphate.\n\nWhy is Turkey fighting the Kurds?\n\nTurkey has long viewed the SDF as an extension of the decades-old Kurdish insurgency within its own borders. It considers the main Kurdish faction a terrorist group on par with the Islamic State and has said it should have no presence in the new Syria.\n\nIn recent years, Turkey has trained and funded fighters known as the Syrian National Army (SNA), helping them wrest control of territory from the Kurds in northern Syria along the border with Turkey. These Turkish-backed fighters have portrayed themselves as part of the opposition against Assad, but analysts say they are largely driven by opportunism and hatred of the Kurds.\n\nThe Kurds have focused on battling the SNA in recent years. But the new leadership in Damascus, which also has longstanding ties to Turkey, could open another, much longer front.\n\nHow do the Syrian rebels view the Kurds?\n\nThe main rebel faction is led by Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, a former al-Qaida militant who cut ties with the group eight years ago and says he wants to build a new Syria free of dictatorship that will serve all its religious and ethnic communities.\n\nNawaf Khalil, head of the Germany-based Centre for Kurdish Studies, said the early signs were positive. He said the rebels steered clear of two SDF-controlled enclaves of Aleppo when they stormed the city two weeks ago at the start of their rapid advance across the country.\n\n\u201cIt is also positive that they did not speak negatively about the Syrian Democratic Forces,\u201d he said.\n\nIt remains to be seen if those sentiments will endure. After sweeping into Deir al-Zour this week, a fighter from al-Sharaa\u2019s group posted a video saying they would soon advance toward Raqqa and other areas of eastern Syria, raising the possibility of further clashes with the Kurds.\n\nThe rebels could still seek some kind of agreement with the Kurds to incorporate them into the post-Assad political order, but that would likely require accepting a degree of Kurdish autonomy in the east. It would also risk angering Turkey, which now appears to be the chief power broker in Syria.\n\nWill the Trump administration support the Kurds?\n\nThe top U.S. military commander for the Middle East, Army Gen. Erik Kurilla, met with SDF forces in Syria on Tuesday, in a sign of the Biden administration\u2019s commitment to the alliance post-Assad.\n\nBut things could change on Jan. 20.\n\nTrump has provided few details about his Middle East policy, aside from saying he wants to end the region\u2019s wars and keep the United States out of them.\n\nIn a social media post shortly before Assad was overthrown, Trump wrote that \u201cSyria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT.\u201d\n\nDuring his previous term, in 2019, Trump abandoned the Kurds ahead of a Turkish incursion, casting it as the fulfilment of a campaign promise to end U.S. involvement in the region\u2019s \u201cendless wars.\u201d\n\nThe move prompted heavy criticism, including from prominent Republicans who accused him of betraying an ally. Trump backtracked weeks later, approving a wider mission to secure oil fields in the east. The troops remained where they were and the alliance endured.\n\n","htmlText":"<p>The north of Syria is the homeland of Syria's Kurds, the country's largest ethnic minority, who are also the US's closest ally in the country. For them, the struggle for a new order is entering a potentially even more challenging phase.<\/p>\n<p>Over the course of Syria\u2019s civil war, Kurdish fighters have fended off an array of armed factions, partnered with the U.S. to rout the Islamic State group and carved out a largely autonomous region in the country\u2019s oil-rich east.<\/p>\n<p>But the gains of the non-Arab Kurds are now at risk. The ascendance of the Sunni Arab rebels who overthrew Assad \u2014 with vital help from Turkey, a long-time foe of the Kurds \u2014 will make it hard for the Kurds to find a place in the new Syria and could prolong the conflict.<\/p>\n<p>The jihadi rebels who rode into Damascus last weekend have made peaceful overtures to the Kurds. But the rebels violently drove Kurdish fighters out of the eastern city of Deir al-Zour days after government forces abandoned it.<\/p>\n<p>To the north, a separate opposition faction backed by Turkey that has been battling the Kurds for years seized the town of Manbij. And Turkey carried out airstrikes on a Kurdish convoy it said was carrying heavy weapons looted from government arsenals.<\/p>\n<p>The Kurds have long counted on U.S. aid in the face of such challenges. Around 900 American troops are in eastern Syria, where they partner with Kurdish forces to prevent an Islamic State resurgence. But the future of that mission will be thrown into doubt under president-elect Donald Trump, who has long been sceptical about U.S. involvement in Syria.<\/p>\n<p>And in the city of Qamishli, on the border with Turkey, few dare to think of either peace or a new beginning at the moment. <\/p>\n<p>A spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is led by Kurdish forces and has the backing of the US, said that since President Bashir al-Assad's regime fell Islamic State \"are now moving freely around the rest of Syria.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"There are hundreds of Islamic State (IS) fighters there, they have IS logos on their uniforms and shout IS battle cries, Siamand Ali told a camera crew from Gemany's ARD TV station earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p>\"In my view, the new rulers in Damascus share the same ideology as IS,\" he added.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, one Kurdish man described the ongoing threat from Turkish forces.<\/p>\n<p>\"We have been experiencing these attacks for four years. Turkish drones pretending to attack military targets. But in reality, they hit many civilian targets. That scares all the inhabitants,\" Azad Ismael said.<\/p>\n<h2>Who are the U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters in Syria?<\/h2><p>The Kurds are among the largest stateless ethnic groups in the world, with some 30 million concentrated in a territory straddling Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. They are a minority in each country and have often suffered persecution, which has fuelled armed Kurdish uprisings.<\/p>\n<p>In Syria, they carved out an autonomous enclave early in the civil war, never fully siding with the Assad government or the rebels seeking to topple him.<\/p>\n<p>When the Islamic State group seized a third of the country in 2014, Kurdish fighters \u2014 who are secular and include women in their ranks \u2014 proved their mettle in early battles against the extremists, earning support from the U.S.-led coalition.<\/p>\n<p>They formed the SDF, which also includes Arab fighters, and drove the Islamic State group out of large areas of Syria with help from U.S.-led airstrikes and American special forces. In 2017, these Kurdish-led forces captured Raqqa, the capital of the extremists\u2019 self-styled caliphate.<\/p>\n<h2>Why is Turkey fighting the Kurds?<\/h2><p>Turkey has long viewed the SDF as an extension of the decades-old Kurdish insurgency within its own borders. It considers the main Kurdish faction a terrorist group on par with the Islamic State and has said it should have no presence in the new Syria.<\/p>\n<p>In recent years, Turkey has trained and funded fighters known as the Syrian National Army (SNA), helping them wrest control of territory from the Kurds in northern Syria along the border with Turkey. These Turkish-backed fighters have portrayed themselves as part of the opposition against Assad, but analysts say they are largely driven by opportunism and hatred of the Kurds.<\/p>\n<p>The Kurds have focused on battling the SNA in recent years. But the new leadership in Damascus, which also has longstanding ties to Turkey, could open another, much longer front.<\/p>\n<h2>How do the Syrian rebels view the Kurds?<\/h2><p>The main rebel faction is led by Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, a former al-Qaida militant who cut ties with the group eight years ago and says he wants to build a new Syria free of dictatorship that will serve all its religious and ethnic communities.<\/p>\n<p>Nawaf Khalil, head of the Germany-based Centre for Kurdish Studies, said the early signs were positive. He said the rebels steered clear of two SDF-controlled enclaves of Aleppo when they stormed the city two weeks ago at the start of their rapid advance across the country.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is also positive that they did not speak negatively about the Syrian Democratic Forces,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>It remains to be seen if those sentiments will endure. After sweeping into Deir al-Zour this week, a fighter from al-Sharaa\u2019s group posted a video saying they would soon advance toward Raqqa and other areas of eastern Syria, raising the possibility of further clashes with the Kurds.<\/p>\n<p>The rebels could still seek some kind of agreement with the Kurds to incorporate them into the post-Assad political order, but that would likely require accepting a degree of Kurdish autonomy in the east. It would also risk angering Turkey, which now appears to be the chief power broker in Syria.<\/p>\n<h2>Will the Trump administration support the Kurds?<\/h2><p>The top U.S. military commander for the Middle East, Army Gen. Erik Kurilla, met with SDF forces in Syria on Tuesday, in a sign of the Biden administration\u2019s commitment to the alliance post-Assad.<\/p>\n<p>But things could change on Jan. 20.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has provided few details about his Middle East policy, aside from saying he wants to end the region\u2019s wars and keep the United States out of them.<\/p>\n<p>In a social media post shortly before Assad was overthrown, Trump wrote that \u201cSyria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During his previous term, in 2019, Trump abandoned the Kurds ahead of a Turkish incursion, casting it as the fulfilment of a campaign promise to end U.S. involvement in the region\u2019s \u201cendless wars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The move prompted heavy criticism, including from prominent Republicans who accused him of betraying an ally. Trump backtracked weeks later, approving a wider mission to secure oil fields in the east. The troops remained where they were and the alliance endured.<\/p>\n","hashtag":null,"createdAt":1734260561,"updatedAt":1734275885,"publishedAt":1734265434,"firstPublishedAt":1734265434,"lastPublishedAt":1734265434,"expiresAt":0,"images":[{"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/25\/02\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_6ab2c808-139b-56a5-ab18-2a971d59f13a-8912502.jpg","altText":"FILE - July 22, 2017, Arab and Kurdish fighters with the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), gather on a pickup as they move to the front line against Islamic State","caption":"FILE - July 22, 2017, Arab and Kurdish fighters with the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), gather on a pickup as they move to the front line against Islamic State","captionUrl":null,"captionCredit":"Hussein Malla\/Copyright 2017 The AP. All rights reserved.","sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"callToActionText":null,"width":1024,"height":687}],"authors":{"journalists":[{"id":1074,"urlSafeValue":"bellamy","title":"Daniel Bellamy","twitter":"danbel"}],"producers":[],"videoEditor":[]},"keywords":[{"id":14028,"slug":"kurds-in-syria","urlSafeValue":"kurds-in-syria","title":"Kurds in Syria","titleRaw":"Kurds in Syria"},{"id":8155,"slug":"syria","urlSafeValue":"syria","title":"Syria","titleRaw":"Syria"},{"id":11808,"slug":"islamic-state-jihadist-group","urlSafeValue":"islamic-state-jihadist-group","title":"Islamic State Jihadist Group","titleRaw":"Islamic State Jihadist Group"}],"widgets":[],"related":[],"technicalTags":[],"externalPartners":{"youtubeId":"P_pEABIcHOI","dailymotionId":"x9au57g"},"hasExternalVideo":0,"video":1,"videos":[{"duration":77000,"editor":"","filesizeBytes":10211143,"format":"mp4","type":"normal","url":"https:\/\/video.euronews.com\/mp4\/med\/EN\/NW\/SU\/24\/12\/15\/en\/241215_NWSU_57281819_57281855_77000_161106_en.mp4","expiresAt":0,"quality":"md"},{"duration":77000,"editor":"","filesizeBytes":14988615,"format":"mp4","type":"normal","url":"https:\/\/video.euronews.com\/mp4\/EN\/NW\/SU\/24\/12\/15\/en\/241215_NWSU_57281819_57281855_77000_161106_en.mp4","expiresAt":0,"quality":"hd"}],"liveStream":[{"startDate":0,"endDate":0}],"scribbleLiveId":0,"scribbleLiveRibbon":0,"isLiveCoverage":0,"sourceId":1,"sources":[],"externalSource":"AP","additionalSources":"","additionalReporting":"","freeField1":null,"freeField2":"","type":"normal","displayType":"default","program":{"id":"world","urlSafeValue":"world","title":"World News","online":1,"url":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/programs\/world"},"vertical":"news","verticals":[{"id":1,"slug":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"News"}],"primaryVertical":{"id":1,"slug":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"News"},"themes":[{"id":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"World","url":"\/news\/international"}],"primaryTheme":{"id":1,"urlSafeValue":"news","title":"World"},"advertising":0,"advertisingData":{"startDate":0,"endDate":0,"type":null,"slug":null,"title":null,"disclaimerLabelKey":null,"sponsor":null,"sponsorName":null,"sponsorUrl":null,"sponsorLogo":"","sponsorLogoReverse":"","isDfp":0},"geoLocation":{"lat":0,"lon":0},"location":1,"continent":{"id":12,"urlSafeValue":"asia","title":"Asia"},"country":{"id":268,"urlSafeValue":"syria","title":"Syria","url":"\/news\/asia\/syria"},"town":[],"contextualSignals":{"doubleVerify":{"ids":["80023001","80122011","80222011","84111001","84112005","84181001","84182008","84211001","84212004"],"slugs":["aggregated_all_moderate_content","law_gov_t_and_politics_legal_politics","law_government_and_politics","religion_and_spirituality","religion_and_spirituality_islam","society","society_ethnic_specific","terrorism_high_and_medium_risk","terrorism_high_medium_and_low_risk"]}},"grapeshot":null,"versions":[],"programDeliverable":{"slug":"sujet","format":"default"},"showOpinionDisclaimer":0,"allViews":0,"allViewsMeta":{"pointOfView":[],"survey":[],"tweetId":0,"tweet2NdId":0,"displayOverlay":0},"storyTranslationMethod":[],"localisation":[],"path":"\/2024\/12\/15\/syrias-kurds-fearful-of-the-future-after-islamist-rebels-seized-power","lastModified":1734265434},{"id":2703598,"cid":8912392,"versionId":1,"archive":0,"housenumber":"241215_NWSU_57281377","owner":"euronews","isMagazine":0,"isBreakingNews":0,"daletEventName":"SYRIA ONE WEEK LATER","channels":[{"id":1},{"id":2},{"id":3},{"id":4},{"id":5},{"id":10},{"id":12},{"id":14}],"status":2,"title":"Damascus is surprisingly calm a week after Syria's rebels took over","titleSeo":null,"titleListing1":"Damascus is surprisingly calm a week after Syria's rebels took over","titleListing2":"Damascus is surprisingly calm a week after Syria's rebels took overr","leadin":"A week of transition has been surprisingly smooth: Reports of reprisals, revenge killings sectarian violence and looting have all been minimal.","summary":"A week of transition has been surprisingly smooth: Reports of reprisals, revenge killings sectarian violence and looting have all been minimal.","keySentence":"","url":"damascus-is-surprisingly-calm-a-week-after-syrias-rebels-took-over","canonical":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2024\/12\/15\/damascus-is-surprisingly-calm-a-week-after-syrias-rebels-took-over","masterCms":"v2","plainText":"Just a week after President Bashir al-Assad's regime was toppled by the Islamist HTS rebel group, people were going about their lives as usual in Syria's capital, Damascus, shopping and socialising - and with surprisingly few armed rebels patrolling the streets.\n\nAt Damascus\u2019 international airport, the new head of security \u2014 one of the rebels who marched across Syria to the capital \u2014 arrived with his team. The few maintenance workers who showed up for work huddled around Maj Hamza al-Ahmed, eager to learn what will happen next. \n\nThey quickly unloaded all the complaints they had been too afraid to express during the rule of President Bashar Assad, which now, inconceivably, is over.\n\nThey told the bearded fighter they were denied promotions and perks in favour of pro-Assad favourites, and that bosses threatened them with prison for working too slowly. They warned of hardcore Assad supporters among airport staff, ready to return whenever the facility reopens. \n\nAs Al-Ahmed tried to reassure them, Osama Najm, an engineer, announced: \u201cThis is the first time we talk.\u201d\n\nThis was the first week of Syria\u2019s transformation after Assad\u2019s unexpected fall.\n\nRebels, suddenly in charge, met a population bursting with emotions: excitement at new freedoms; grief over years of repression; and hopes, expectations and worries about the future. Some were overwhelmed to the point of tears. \n\nDespite the calm there are many ways it could go wrong. \n\nThe country is broken and isolated after five decades of Assad family rule. Families have been torn apart by war, former prisoners are traumatised by the brutalities they suffered, tens of thousands of detainees remain missing. The economy is wrecked, poverty is widespread, inflation and unemployment are high. Corruption seeps through daily life.\n\nBut in this moment of flux, many are ready to feel out the way ahead.\n\nAt the airport, al-Ahmed told the staffers: \u201cThe new path will have challenges, but that is why we have said Syria is for all and we all have to cooperate.\u201d\n\nThe rebels have so far said all the right things, Najm said. \u201cBut we will not be silent about anything wrong again.\u201d\n\nAt a torched police station, pictures of Assad were torn down and files destroyed after insurgents entered the city Dec. 8. All Assad-era police and security personnel have vanished.\n\nOn Saturday, the building was staffed by 10 men serving in the police force of the rebels\u2019 de facto \u201csalvation government,\u201d which for years governed the rebel enclave of Idlib in Syria's northwest.\n\nThe rebel policemen watch over the station, dealing with reports of petty thefts and street scuffles. One woman complains that her neighbours sabotaged her power supply. A policeman tells her to wait for courts to start operating again.\n\n\u201cIt will take a year to solve problems\u201d he mumbled.\n\nThe rebels sought to bring order in Damascus by replicating the structure of its governance in Idlib. But there is a problem of scale. One of the policemen estimates the number of rebel police at only around 4,000; half are based in Idlib and the rest are tasked with maintaining security in Damascus and elsewhere. Some experts estimate the insurgents' total fighting force at around 20,000. \n\nThe rebels and the public are still learning about each other\n\nThe fighters drive large SUVs and newer models of vehicles that are out of reach for most residents in Damascus, where they cost 10 times as much because of custom duties and bribes. The fighters carry Turkish lira, long forbidden in government-held areas, rather than the plunging Syrian pound.\n\nMost of the bearded fighters hail from conservative, provincial areas. Many are hard-line Islamists.\n\nThe main insurgent force, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has renounced its al-Qaida past, and its leaders are working to reassure Syria\u2019s religious and ethnic communities that the future will be pluralist and tolerant.\n\nBut many Syrians remain suspicious. Some fighters sport ribbons with Islamist slogans on their uniforms and not all of them belong to HTS, the most organised group.\n\n\u201cThe people we see on the streets, they don\u2019t represent us,\u201d said Hani Zia, a Damascus resident from the southern city of Daraa, where the 2011 anti-Assad uprising began. He was concerned by reports of attacks on minorities and revenge killings.\n\n\u201cWe should be fearful,\u201d he said, adding that he worries some insurgents feel superior to other Syrians because of their years of fighting. \u201cWith all due respect to those who sacrificed, we all sacrificed.\u201d\n\nStill, fear is not prevalent in Damascus, where many insist they will no longer let themselves be oppressed. \n\nSome restaurants have resumed openly serving alcohol, others more discretely to test the mood.\n\nAt a sidewalk caf\u00e9 in the historic Old City's Christian quarter, men were drinking beer when a fighter patrol passed by. The men turned to each other, uncertain, but the fighters did nothing. When a man waving a gun harassed a liquor store elsewhere in the Old City, the rebel police arrested him, one policeman said.\n\nSalem Hajjo, a theatre teacher who participated in the 2011 protests, said he doesn't agree with the rebels' Islamist views, but is impressed at their experience in running their own affairs. And he expects to have a voice in the new Syria. \n\n\u201cWe have never been this at ease,\" he said. \"The fear is gone. The rest is up to us.\u201d\n\nOn the night after Assad\u2019s fall, gunmen roamed the streets, celebrating victory with deafening gunfire. Some security agency buildings were torched. People ransacked the airport's duty free, smashing all the bottles of liquor. The rebels blamed some of this on fleeing government loyalists. \n\nThe public stayed indoors, peeking out at the newcomers. Shops shut down.\n\nHayat Tahrir al-Sham moved to impose order, ordering a night-time curfew for three days. It banned celebratory gunfire and moved fighters to protect properties.\n\nAfter a day, people began to emerge.\n\nFor tens of thousands, their first destination was Assad\u2019s prisons, particularly Saydnaya on the capital\u2019s outskirts, to search for loved ones who disappeared years ago. Few have found any traces.\n\nIt was wrenching but also unifying. Rebels, some of them also searching, mingled with relatives of the missing in the dark halls of prisons that all had feared for years.\n\nDuring celebrations in the street, gunmen invited children to hop up on their armoured vehicles. Insurgents posed for photos with women, some with their hair uncovered. Pro-revolution songs blared from cars. Suddenly shops and walls everywhere are plastered with revolutionary flags and posters of activists killed by Assad\u2019s state.\n\nTV stations didn\u2019t miss a beat, flipping from praising Assad to playing revolutionary songs. State media aired the flurry of declarations issued by the new insurgent-led transitional government.\n\nThe new administration called on people to go back to work and urged Syrian refugees around the world to return to help rebuild. It announced plans to rehabilitate and vet the security forces to prevent the return of \u201cthose with blood on their hands.\u201d Fighters reassured airport staffers \u2014 many of them government loyalists \u2014 that their homes won\u2019t be attacked, one employee said. \n\nBut Syria's woes are far from being resolved.\n\nWhile produce prices plunged after Assad\u2019s fall, because merchants no longer needed to pay hefty customs fees and bribes, fuel distribution was badly disrupted, jacking up transportation costs and causing widespread and lengthy blackouts.\n\nOfficials say they want to reopen the airport as soon as possible and this week maintenance crews inspected a handful of planes on the tarmac. Cleaners removed trash, wrecked furniture and merchandise.\n\nOne cleaner, who identified himself only as Murad, said he earns the equivalent of 14 euros a month and has six children to feed, including one with a disability. He dreams of getting a mobile phone.\n\n\u201cWe need a long time to clean this up,\u201d he said. \n\n","htmlText":"<p>Just a week after President Bashir al-Assad's regime was toppled by the Islamist HTS rebel group, people were going about their lives as usual in Syria's capital, Damascus, shopping and socialising - and with surprisingly few armed rebels patrolling the streets.<\/p>\n<p>At Damascus\u2019 international airport, the new head of security \u2014 one of the rebels who marched across Syria to the capital \u2014 arrived with his team. The few maintenance workers who showed up for work huddled around Maj Hamza al-Ahmed, eager to learn what will happen next. <\/p>\n<p>They quickly unloaded all the complaints they had been too afraid to express during the rule of President Bashar Assad, which now, inconceivably, is over.<\/p>\n<p>They told the bearded fighter they were denied promotions and perks in favour of pro-Assad favourites, and that bosses threatened them with prison for working too slowly. They warned of hardcore Assad supporters among airport staff, ready to return whenever the facility reopens. <\/p>\n<p>As Al-Ahmed tried to reassure them, Osama Najm, an engineer, announced: \u201cThis is the first time we talk.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This was the first week of Syria\u2019s transformation after Assad\u2019s unexpected fall.<\/p>\n<p>Rebels, suddenly in charge, met a population bursting with emotions: excitement at new freedoms; grief over years of repression; and hopes, expectations and worries about the future. Some were overwhelmed to the point of tears. <\/p>\n<p>Despite the calm there are many ways it could go wrong. <\/p>\n<p>The country is broken and isolated after five decades of Assad family rule. Families have been torn apart by war, former prisoners are traumatised by the brutalities they suffered, tens of thousands of detainees remain missing. The economy is wrecked, poverty is widespread, inflation and unemployment are high. Corruption seeps through daily life.<\/p>\n<p>But in this moment of flux, many are ready to feel out the way ahead.<\/p>\n<p>At the airport, al-Ahmed told the staffers: \u201cThe new path will have challenges, but that is why we have said Syria is for all and we all have to cooperate.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"widget widget--type-image widget--size-fullwidth widget--animation-fade-in widget--align-center\" data-ratio=\"0.6669921875\">\n <div class=\"widget__wrapper\">\n <div class=\"widget__ratio widget__ratio--auto\">\n <div class=\"widget__contents\">\n <figure class=\"widget__figure\">\n <img class=\"widgetImage__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////static.euronews.com//articles//stories//08//91//23//92//808x539_cmsv2_a5fa4d18-1c1c-5bb5-b884-2df38ff6f811-8912392.jpg/" alt=\"Airport staff work on the maintenance of an aircraft at the Damascus international airport Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo\/Ghaith Alsayed)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/23\/92\/384x256_cmsv2_a5fa4d18-1c1c-5bb5-b884-2df38ff6f811-8912392.jpg 384w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/23\/92\/640x427_cmsv2_a5fa4d18-1c1c-5bb5-b884-2df38ff6f811-8912392.jpg 640w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/23\/92\/750x500_cmsv2_a5fa4d18-1c1c-5bb5-b884-2df38ff6f811-8912392.jpg 750w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/23\/92\/828x552_cmsv2_a5fa4d18-1c1c-5bb5-b884-2df38ff6f811-8912392.jpg 828w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/23\/92\/1080x720_cmsv2_a5fa4d18-1c1c-5bb5-b884-2df38ff6f811-8912392.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/23\/92\/1200x800_cmsv2_a5fa4d18-1c1c-5bb5-b884-2df38ff6f811-8912392.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/23\/92\/1920x1281_cmsv2_a5fa4d18-1c1c-5bb5-b884-2df38ff6f811-8912392.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 95vw, (max-width: 1024px) 80vw, (max-width: 1280px) 55vw, 728px\"\/>\n <figcaption class=\"widget__caption\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionWrap\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionText\">Airport staff work on the maintenance of an aircraft at the Damascus international airport Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo\/Ghaith Alsayed)<\/span>\n <span class=\"widget__captionCredit\">Ghaith Alsayed\/Copyright 2024 The AP. All right reserved<\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The rebels have so far said all the right things, Najm said. \u201cBut we will not be silent about anything wrong again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At a torched police station, pictures of Assad were torn down and files destroyed after insurgents entered the city Dec. 8. All Assad-era police and security personnel have vanished.<\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, the building was staffed by 10 men serving in the police force of the rebels\u2019 de facto \u201csalvation government,\u201d which for years governed the rebel enclave of Idlib in Syria's northwest.<\/p>\n<p>The rebel policemen watch over the station, dealing with reports of petty thefts and street scuffles. One woman complains that her neighbours sabotaged her power supply. A policeman tells her to wait for courts to start operating again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt will take a year to solve problems\u201d he mumbled.<\/p>\n<p>The rebels sought to bring order in Damascus by replicating the structure of its governance in Idlib. But there is a problem of scale. One of the policemen estimates the number of rebel police at only around 4,000; half are based in Idlib and the rest are tasked with maintaining security in Damascus and elsewhere. Some experts estimate the insurgents' total fighting force at around 20,000. <\/p>\n<h2>The rebels and the public are still learning about each other<\/h2><p>The fighters drive large SUVs and newer models of vehicles that are out of reach for most residents in Damascus, where they cost 10 times as much because of custom duties and bribes. The fighters carry Turkish lira, long forbidden in government-held areas, rather than the plunging Syrian pound.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the bearded fighters hail from conservative, provincial areas. Many are hard-line Islamists.<\/p>\n<p>The main insurgent force, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has renounced its al-Qaida past, and its leaders are working to reassure Syria\u2019s religious and ethnic communities that the future will be pluralist and tolerant.<\/p>\n<p>But many Syrians remain suspicious. Some fighters sport ribbons with Islamist slogans on their uniforms and not all of them belong to HTS, the most organised group.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe people we see on the streets, they don\u2019t represent us,\u201d said Hani Zia, a Damascus resident from the southern city of Daraa, where the 2011 anti-Assad uprising began. He was concerned by reports of attacks on minorities and revenge killings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe should be fearful,\u201d he said, adding that he worries some insurgents feel superior to other Syrians because of their years of fighting. \u201cWith all due respect to those who sacrificed, we all sacrificed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Still, fear is not prevalent in Damascus, where many insist they will no longer let themselves be oppressed. <\/p>\n<p>Some restaurants have resumed openly serving alcohol, others more discretely to test the mood.<\/p>\n<p>At a sidewalk caf\u00e9 in the historic Old City's Christian quarter, men were drinking beer when a fighter patrol passed by. The men turned to each other, uncertain, but the fighters did nothing. When a man waving a gun harassed a liquor store elsewhere in the Old City, the rebel police arrested him, one policeman said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"widget widget--type-image widget--size-fullwidth widget--animation-fade-in widget--align-center\" data-ratio=\"0.6669921875\">\n <div class=\"widget__wrapper\">\n <div class=\"widget__ratio widget__ratio--auto\">\n <div class=\"widget__contents\">\n <figure class=\"widget__figure\">\n <img class=\"widgetImage__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////static.euronews.com//articles//stories//08//91//23//92//808x539_cmsv2_80256dbb-6801-51d7-a172-b6933e0a9d73-8912392.jpg/" alt=\"FILE - An armed opposition fighter walks among costumers at the Al-Hamidiyeh market inside the old walled city of Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. \" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/23\/92\/384x256_cmsv2_80256dbb-6801-51d7-a172-b6933e0a9d73-8912392.jpg 384w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/23\/92\/640x427_cmsv2_80256dbb-6801-51d7-a172-b6933e0a9d73-8912392.jpg 640w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/23\/92\/750x500_cmsv2_80256dbb-6801-51d7-a172-b6933e0a9d73-8912392.jpg 750w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/23\/92\/828x552_cmsv2_80256dbb-6801-51d7-a172-b6933e0a9d73-8912392.jpg 828w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/23\/92\/1080x720_cmsv2_80256dbb-6801-51d7-a172-b6933e0a9d73-8912392.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/23\/92\/1200x800_cmsv2_80256dbb-6801-51d7-a172-b6933e0a9d73-8912392.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/23\/92\/1920x1281_cmsv2_80256dbb-6801-51d7-a172-b6933e0a9d73-8912392.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 95vw, (max-width: 1024px) 80vw, (max-width: 1280px) 55vw, 728px\"\/>\n <figcaption class=\"widget__caption\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionWrap\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionText\">FILE - An armed opposition fighter walks among costumers at the Al-Hamidiyeh market inside the old walled city of Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. <\/span>\n <span class=\"widget__captionCredit\">Hussein Malla\/Copyright 2023 The AP. All rights reserved.<\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Salem Hajjo, a theatre teacher who participated in the 2011 protests, said he doesn't agree with the rebels' Islamist views, but is impressed at their experience in running their own affairs. And he expects to have a voice in the new Syria. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have never been this at ease,\" he said. \"The fear is gone. The rest is up to us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On the night after Assad\u2019s fall, gunmen roamed the streets, celebrating victory with deafening gunfire. Some security agency buildings were torched. People ransacked the airport's duty free, smashing all the bottles of liquor. The rebels blamed some of this on fleeing government loyalists. <\/p>\n<p>The public stayed indoors, peeking out at the newcomers. Shops shut down.<\/p>\n<p>Hayat Tahrir al-Sham moved to impose order, ordering a night-time curfew for three days. It banned celebratory gunfire and moved fighters to protect properties.<\/p>\n<p>After a day, people began to emerge.<\/p>\n<p>For tens of thousands, their first destination was Assad\u2019s prisons, particularly Saydnaya on the capital\u2019s outskirts, to search for loved ones who disappeared years ago. Few have found any traces.<\/p>\n<p>It was wrenching but also unifying. Rebels, some of them also searching, mingled with relatives of the missing in the dark halls of prisons that all had feared for years.<\/p>\n<p>During celebrations in the street, gunmen invited children to hop up on their armoured vehicles. Insurgents posed for photos with women, some with their hair uncovered. Pro-revolution songs blared from cars. Suddenly shops and walls everywhere are plastered with revolutionary flags and posters of activists killed by Assad\u2019s state.<\/p>\n<p>TV stations didn\u2019t miss a beat, flipping from praising Assad to playing revolutionary songs. State media aired the flurry of declarations issued by the new insurgent-led transitional government.<\/p>\n<p>The new administration called on people to go back to work and urged Syrian refugees around the world to return to help rebuild. It announced plans to rehabilitate and vet the security forces to prevent the return of \u201cthose with blood on their hands.\u201d Fighters reassured airport staffers \u2014 many of them government loyalists \u2014 that their homes won\u2019t be attacked, one employee said. <\/p>\n<p>But Syria's woes are far from being resolved.<\/p>\n<p>While produce prices plunged after Assad\u2019s fall, because merchants no longer needed to pay hefty customs fees and bribes, fuel distribution was badly disrupted, jacking up transportation costs and causing widespread and lengthy blackouts.<\/p>\n<p>Officials say they want to reopen the airport as soon as possible and this week maintenance crews inspected a handful of planes on the tarmac. Cleaners removed trash, wrecked furniture and merchandise.<\/p>\n<p>One cleaner, who identified himself only as Murad, said he earns the equivalent of 14 euros a month and has six children to feed, including one with a disability. He dreams of getting a mobile phone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need a long time to clean this up,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","hashtag":null,"createdAt":1734252949,"updatedAt":1734258309,"publishedAt":1734256069,"firstPublishedAt":1734256069,"lastPublishedAt":1734256069,"expiresAt":0,"images":[{"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/23\/92\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_f5b0f1a8-57cc-5fe9-bcff-5d7af2026c6c-8912392.jpg","altText":"FILE - Opposition fighters sit in a restaurant at the Al-Hamidiyeh market inside the old walled city of Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo\/Hussein Malla)","caption":"FILE - Opposition fighters sit in a restaurant at the Al-Hamidiyeh market inside the old walled city of Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo\/Hussein Malla)","captionUrl":null,"captionCredit":"Hussein Malla\/Copyright 2023 The AP. All rights reserved.","sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"callToActionText":null,"width":1024,"height":683},{"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/23\/92\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_80256dbb-6801-51d7-a172-b6933e0a9d73-8912392.jpg","altText":null,"caption":null,"captionUrl":null,"captionCredit":null,"sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"callToActionText":null,"width":1024,"height":683},{"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/23\/92\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_a5fa4d18-1c1c-5bb5-b884-2df38ff6f811-8912392.jpg","altText":null,"caption":null,"captionUrl":null,"captionCredit":null,"sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"callToActionText":null,"width":1024,"height":683}],"authors":{"journalists":[{"id":1074,"urlSafeValue":"bellamy","title":"Daniel Bellamy","twitter":"danbel"}],"producers":[],"videoEditor":[]},"keywords":[{"id":8155,"slug":"syria","urlSafeValue":"syria","title":"Syria","titleRaw":"Syria"},{"id":1802,"slug":"damascus","urlSafeValue":"damascus","title":"Damascus","titleRaw":"Damascus"},{"id":17039,"slug":"rebels","urlSafeValue":"rebels","title":"Rebels","titleRaw":"Rebels"}],"widgets":[{"slug":"image","count":2}],"related":[],"technicalTags":[],"externalPartners":[],"hasExternalVideo":0,"video":0,"videos":[],"liveStream":[{"startDate":0,"endDate":0}],"scribbleLiveId":0,"scribbleLiveRibbon":0,"isLiveCoverage":0,"sourceId":1,"sources":[],"externalSource":"AP","additionalSources":"","additionalReporting":"","freeField1":null,"freeField2":"","type":"normal","displayType":"default","program":{"id":"world","urlSafeValue":"world","title":"World News","online":1,"url":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/programs\/world"},"vertical":"news","verticals":[{"id":1,"slug":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"News"}],"primaryVertical":{"id":1,"slug":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"News"},"themes":[{"id":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"World","url":"\/news\/international"}],"primaryTheme":{"id":1,"urlSafeValue":"news","title":"World"},"advertising":0,"advertisingData":{"startDate":0,"endDate":0,"type":null,"slug":null,"title":null,"disclaimerLabelKey":null,"sponsor":null,"sponsorName":null,"sponsorUrl":null,"sponsorLogo":"","sponsorLogoReverse":"","isDfp":0},"geoLocation":{"lat":0,"lon":0},"location":1,"continent":{"id":12,"urlSafeValue":"asia","title":"Asia"},"country":{"id":268,"urlSafeValue":"syria","title":"Syria","url":"\/news\/asia\/syria"},"town":{"id":1802,"urlSafeValue":"damascus","title":"Damascus"},"contextualSignals":{"doubleVerify":{"ids":["80023001","80122006","80122011","80122013","80222006","80222011","84111001","84112001","84211001","84212001"],"slugs":["aggregated_all_moderate_content","alcohol_high_medium_and_low_risk","crime_high_and_medium_risk","crime_high_medium_and_low_risk","law_government_and_politics","law_government_and_politics_general","society","society_general","terrorism_high_and_medium_risk","terrorism_high_medium_and_low_risk"]}},"grapeshot":null,"versions":[],"programDeliverable":{"slug":"sujet","format":"default"},"showOpinionDisclaimer":0,"allViews":0,"allViewsMeta":{"pointOfView":[],"survey":[],"tweetId":0,"tweet2NdId":0,"displayOverlay":0},"storyTranslationMethod":[],"localisation":[],"path":"\/2024\/12\/15\/damascus-is-surprisingly-calm-a-week-after-syrias-rebels-took-over","lastModified":1734256069},{"id":2703326,"cid":8911952,"versionId":1,"archive":0,"housenumber":"241214_E3SU_57277862","owner":"euronews","isMagazine":0,"isBreakingNews":0,"daletEventName":"SYRIA TURKISH EMBASSY REOPENS","channels":[{"id":1},{"id":2},{"id":3},{"id":4},{"id":5},{"id":10},{"id":12},{"id":14}],"status":2,"title":"Turkey reopens its embassy in Syria for the first time in 12 years","titleSeo":null,"titleListing1":"Turkey reopens its embassy in Syria for the first time in 12 years","titleListing2":"Turkey has reopened its embassy in Syria for the first time in 12 years.","leadin":"The embassy reopening happened just days after rebels overthrew the government of Bashar al-Assad.","summary":"The embassy reopening happened just days after rebels overthrew the government of Bashar al-Assad.","keySentence":"","url":"turkey-reopens-its-embassy-in-syria-for-the-first-time-in-12-years","canonical":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/my-europe\/2024\/12\/14\/turkey-reopens-its-embassy-in-syria-for-the-first-time-in-12-years","masterCms":"v2","plainText":"Turkey reopened its embassy in Syria on Saturday, becoming the first country to do so since the end of Bashar al-Assad\u2019s rule last weekend.\n\nSome of the Syrian insurgents who overthrew al-Assad had received support from Turkey.\n\nDiplomatic ties had been cut between Syria and Turkey since 2012. The embassy suspended operations 12 years ago due to the insecurity caused during the Syrian civil war.\n\nSeveral countries maintained diplomatic ties with al-Assad's government during the conflict, which lasted 13 years, while others reopened their diplomatic missions in recent years as they sought to normalise relations with the regime.\n\nTurkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said in an interview with broadcaster NTV on Friday, \"We want to see a terror-free Syria, where minorities are not mistreated. We want an inclusive government in Syria.\" He also said that Syrians currently in Turkey will begin to return home in greater numbers as the situation stabilises further.\n\nThe embassy reopening occured on the same day that top diplomats the United States, the Arab League and Turkey met in Jordan to discuss how to assist Syria\u2019s transition after the fall of Bashar Assad's government a week ago.\n\nNo Syrian representatives attended the meetings, though US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said American officials have been in direct contact with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Syrian insurgent group that led the overthrow of al-Assad's government, which is currently considered a foreign terrorist organisation by the US.\n\n","htmlText":"<p>Turkey reopened its embassy in Syria on Saturday, becoming the first country to do so since the end of Bashar al-Assad\u2019s rule last weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the Syrian insurgents who overthrew al-Assad had received support from Turkey.<\/p>\n<p>Diplomatic ties had been cut between Syria and Turkey since 2012. The embassy suspended operations 12 years ago due to the insecurity caused during the Syrian civil war.<\/p>\n<p>Several countries maintained diplomatic ties with al-Assad's government during the conflict, which lasted 13 years, while others reopened their diplomatic missions in recent years as they sought to normalise relations with the regime.<\/p>\n<p>Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said in an interview with broadcaster NTV on Friday, \"We want to see a terror-free Syria, where minorities are not mistreated. We want an inclusive government in Syria.\" He also said that Syrians currently in Turkey will begin to return home in greater numbers as the situation stabilises further.<\/p>\n<p>The embassy reopening occured on the same day that top diplomats the United States, the Arab League and Turkey met in Jordan to discuss how to assist Syria\u2019s transition after the fall of Bashar Assad's government a week ago.<\/p>\n<p>No Syrian representatives attended the meetings, though US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said American officials have been in direct contact with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Syrian insurgent group that led the overthrow of al-Assad's government, which is currently considered a foreign terrorist organisation by the US.<\/p>\n","hashtag":null,"createdAt":1734193983,"updatedAt":1734204066,"publishedAt":1734201646,"firstPublishedAt":1734201646,"lastPublishedAt":1734201646,"expiresAt":0,"images":[{"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/19\/52\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_3511cd90-6bbb-5c33-b03f-f4ce1b0e725a-8911952.jpg","altText":"The Turkish embassy in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024.","caption":"The Turkish embassy in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024.","captionUrl":null,"captionCredit":"Omar Sanadiki\/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved.","sourceUrl":"https:\/\/newsroom.ap.org\/detail\/Syria\/15e43f581ad54e0bb90f0e111f540469","sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"callToActionText":null,"width":1024,"height":683}],"authors":{"journalists":[{"id":3242,"urlSafeValue":"georgiou-daniel","title":"Orestes Georgiou Daniel","twitter":null}],"producers":[],"videoEditor":[]},"keywords":[{"id":13204,"slug":"embassy","urlSafeValue":"embassy","title":"Embassy","titleRaw":"Embassy"},{"id":8155,"slug":"syria","urlSafeValue":"syria","title":"Syria","titleRaw":"Syria"},{"id":284,"slug":"turkey","urlSafeValue":"turkey","title":"Turkiye (Turkey)","titleRaw":"Turkiye (Turkey)"}],"widgets":[],"related":[{"id":2703272},{"id":2699580},{"id":2702904}],"technicalTags":[],"externalPartners":{"youtubeId":"qMMjJRgpFKA","dailymotionId":"x9asxoq"},"hasExternalVideo":0,"video":1,"videos":[{"duration":60640,"editor":"","filesizeBytes":7885605,"format":"mp4","type":"normal","url":"https:\/\/video.euronews.com\/mp4\/med\/EN\/E3\/SU\/24\/12\/14\/en\/241214_E3SU_57277862_57277886_60640_201508_en.mp4","expiresAt":0,"quality":"md"},{"duration":60640,"editor":"","filesizeBytes":11762469,"format":"mp4","type":"normal","url":"https:\/\/video.euronews.com\/mp4\/EN\/E3\/SU\/24\/12\/14\/en\/241214_E3SU_57277862_57277886_60640_201508_en.mp4","expiresAt":0,"quality":"hd"}],"liveStream":[{"startDate":0,"endDate":0}],"scribbleLiveId":0,"scribbleLiveRibbon":0,"isLiveCoverage":0,"sourceId":1,"sources":[],"externalSource":null,"additionalSources":null,"additionalReporting":null,"freeField1":null,"freeField2":"","type":"normal","displayType":"default","program":{"id":"europe-news","urlSafeValue":"europe-news","title":"Europe News","online":1,"url":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/my-europe\/europe-news\/europe-news"},"vertical":"my-europe","verticals":[{"id":2,"slug":"my-europe","urlSafeValue":"my-europe","title":"Europe"}],"primaryVertical":{"id":2,"slug":"my-europe","urlSafeValue":"my-europe","title":"Europe"},"themes":[{"id":"europe-news","urlSafeValue":"europe-news","title":"Europe News","url":"\/my-europe\/europe-news"}],"primaryTheme":{"id":56,"urlSafeValue":"europe-news","title":"Europe News"},"advertising":0,"advertisingData":{"startDate":0,"endDate":0,"type":null,"slug":null,"title":null,"disclaimerLabelKey":null,"sponsor":null,"sponsorName":null,"sponsorUrl":null,"sponsorLogo":"","sponsorLogoReverse":"","isDfp":0},"geoLocation":{"lat":0,"lon":0},"location":1,"continent":{"id":12,"urlSafeValue":"asia","title":"Asia"},"country":{"id":268,"urlSafeValue":"syria","title":"Syria","url":"\/news\/asia\/syria"},"town":{"id":1802,"urlSafeValue":"damascus","title":"Damascus"},"contextualSignals":{"doubleVerify":{"ids":[],"slugs":[]}},"grapeshot":null,"versions":[],"programDeliverable":{"slug":"sujet","format":"default"},"showOpinionDisclaimer":0,"allViews":0,"allViewsMeta":{"pointOfView":[],"survey":[],"tweetId":0,"tweet2NdId":0,"displayOverlay":0},"storyTranslationMethod":[],"localisation":[],"path":"\/my-europe\/2024\/12\/14\/turkey-reopens-its-embassy-in-syria-for-the-first-time-in-12-years","lastModified":1734201646},{"id":2703272,"cid":8911848,"versionId":1,"archive":0,"housenumber":"241214_NWSU_57277096","owner":"euronews","isMagazine":0,"isBreakingNews":0,"daletEventName":"JORDAN SYRIA TRANSITION","channels":[{"id":1},{"id":2},{"id":3},{"id":4},{"id":5},{"id":10},{"id":12},{"id":14}],"status":2,"title":"Top diplomats from US, Arab League and Turkey meet to discuss Syria's transition","titleSeo":null,"titleListing1":"US, Arab League and Turkey top diplomats discuss Syria transition","titleListing2":"Top diplomats from the US, Arab League and Turkey discuss Syria's transition from al-Assad government","leadin":"The Jordanian Foreign Ministry said the ministers would \"discuss ways to support a comprehensive political process led by Syrians to achieve a transitional process.\"","summary":"The Jordanian Foreign Ministry said the ministers would \"discuss ways to support a comprehensive political process led by Syrians to achieve a transitional process.\"","keySentence":"","url":"top-diplomats-from-us-arab-league-and-turkey-meet-to-discuss-syrias-transition","canonical":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2024\/12\/14\/top-diplomats-from-us-arab-league-and-turkey-meet-to-discuss-syrias-transition","masterCms":"v2","plainText":"Top diplomats from the US, the Arab League and Turkey met in Jordan to discuss plans and goals to assist Syria\u2019s transition from the deposed government of Bashar al-Assad.\u00a0\n\nSome 12 foreign ministers as well as senior officials from the EU and UN on Saturday gathered in the Jordanian city of Aqaba in an attempt to forge a consensus on what new leadership in Syria should prioritize. \u00a0\n\nHowever, no Syrian representatives were set to attend.\u00a0\n\nUS Secretary-of-State Antony Blinken said broad consensus exists among regional partners that Syria\u2019s new government must be inclusive, must respect women and minority rights, reject terrorism and secure and destroy suspected Assad-era chemical weapon stockpiles.\u00a0\n\nBlinken is on a three-country regional tour in the Middle East, having visited Turkey, Iraq and Jordan once already this week. He met with Iraq's Prime Minister on Friday.\n\nIn a meeting with UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen, Blinken said he expected to talk about the challenges ahead for Syria and \u201cour determination to work together to support a Syrian-led transition where the United Nations plays a critical role, particularly when it comes to the provision of assistance, to the protection of minorities.\u201d\u00a0\n\nPedersen agreed, saying: \u201cWhat is so critical in Syria is that we see a credible and inclusive political process that brings together all communities in Syria.\u201d\u00a0\n\n\u201cThe second point is that we need to make sure that state institutions do not collapse, and that we get in humanitarian assistance as quickly as possible. And if we can achieve that, perhaps there is a new opportunity for the Syrian people.\u201d \u00a0\n\nThe collapse of the al-Assad family\u2019s decades-long rule last week sparked renewed fears of instability and turmoil in an already volatile region.\u00a0\n\nThe area is immersed in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza and hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon despite a tenuous ceasefire.\u00a0\n\n","htmlText":"<p>Top diplomats from the US, the Arab League and Turkey met in Jordan to discuss plans and goals to assist Syria\u2019s transition from the deposed government of Bashar al-Assad.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Some 12 foreign ministers as well as senior officials from the EU and UN on Saturday gathered in the Jordanian city of Aqaba in an attempt to forge a consensus on what new leadership in Syria should prioritize. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>However, no Syrian representatives were set to attend.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>US Secretary-of-State Antony Blinken said broad consensus exists among regional partners that <a href=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////fr.euronews.com//2024//12//14//syrie-washington-appelle-a-un-gouvernement-inclusif-et-non-sectaire/">Syria/u2019s new government must be inclusive<\/strong><\/a>, must respect women and minority rights, reject terrorism and secure and destroy suspected Assad-era chemical weapon stockpiles.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Blinken is on a three-country regional tour in the Middle East, having visited Turkey, Iraq and Jordan once already this week. He met with Iraq's Prime Minister on Friday.<\/p>\n<div class=\"widget widget--type-tweet widget--size-fullwidth widget--align-center\">\n <div class=\"widget__wrapper\">\n <div class=\"widget__ratio widget__ratio\u2014auto\">\n <div class=\"widget__contents\">\n <figure class=\"widget__figure\">\n <div class=\"widget__tweet\" data-tweet-id=\"1867626719764443596\"><\/div>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>In a meeting with UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen, Blinken said he expected to talk about the challenges ahead for Syria and \u201cour determination to work together to support a Syrian-led transition where the United Nations plays a critical role, particularly when it comes to the provision of assistance, to the protection of minorities.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Pedersen agreed, saying: \u201cWhat is so critical in Syria is that we see a credible and inclusive political process that brings together all communities in Syria.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe second point is that we need to make sure that state institutions do not collapse, and that we get in humanitarian assistance as quickly as possible. And if we can achieve that, perhaps there is a new opportunity for the Syrian people.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////fr.euronews.com//my-europe//2024//12//12//apres-assad-les-syriens-ne-doivent-pas-faire-confiance-au-nouveau-gouvernement-car-les-dro/">collapse of the al-Assad family<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s decades-long rule last week sparked renewed fears of instability and turmoil in an already volatile region.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The area is immersed in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza and hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon despite a tenuous ceasefire.\u00a0<\/p>\n","hashtag":null,"createdAt":1734185150,"updatedAt":1734198306,"publishedAt":1734189236,"firstPublishedAt":1734189236,"lastPublishedAt":1734189236,"expiresAt":0,"images":[{"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/18\/48\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_c176702e-8fbc-5fc9-8dad-1b58bda6fa32-8911848.jpg","altText":"Ministers meet to discuss transition of power in Syria in Jordan's southern Red Sea coastal city of Aqaba, Saturday Dec. 14, 2024.","caption":"Ministers meet to discuss transition of power in Syria in Jordan's southern Red Sea coastal city of Aqaba, Saturday Dec. 14, 2024.","captionUrl":null,"captionCredit":"AP Photo","sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"callToActionText":null,"width":1024,"height":576}],"authors":{"journalists":[{"id":2974,"urlSafeValue":"osullivan-d","title":"David O'Sullivan","twitter":null}],"producers":[],"videoEditor":[]},"keywords":[{"id":28396,"slug":"war-in-syria","urlSafeValue":"war-in-syria","title":"war in Syria","titleRaw":"war in Syria"},{"id":11644,"slug":"conflict-in-syria","urlSafeValue":"conflict-in-syria","title":"Conflict in Syria","titleRaw":"Conflict in Syria"},{"id":10547,"slug":"syrian-politics","urlSafeValue":"syrian-politics","title":"Syrian politics","titleRaw":"Syrian politics"}],"widgets":[{"slug":"twitter","count":1}],"related":[{"id":2702910},{"id":2702904},{"id":2702648}],"technicalTags":[],"externalPartners":{"youtubeId":"-15e9GtU3k0","dailymotionId":"x9asjsk"},"hasExternalVideo":0,"video":1,"videos":[{"duration":63640,"editor":"","filesizeBytes":8097453,"format":"mp4","type":"normal","url":"https:\/\/video.euronews.com\/mp4\/med\/EN\/NW\/SU\/24\/12\/14\/en\/241214_NWSU_57277096_57278112_63640_183805_en.mp4","expiresAt":0,"quality":"md"},{"duration":63640,"editor":"","filesizeBytes":11955373,"format":"mp4","type":"normal","url":"https:\/\/video.euronews.com\/mp4\/EN\/NW\/SU\/24\/12\/14\/en\/241214_NWSU_57277096_57278112_63640_183805_en.mp4","expiresAt":0,"quality":"hd"}],"liveStream":[{"startDate":0,"endDate":0}],"scribbleLiveId":0,"scribbleLiveRibbon":0,"isLiveCoverage":0,"sourceId":1,"sources":[],"externalSource":null,"additionalSources":"","additionalReporting":"","freeField1":null,"freeField2":"","type":"normal","displayType":"default","program":{"id":"world","urlSafeValue":"world","title":"World News","online":1,"url":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/programs\/world"},"vertical":"news","verticals":[{"id":1,"slug":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"News"}],"primaryVertical":{"id":1,"slug":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"News"},"themes":[{"id":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"World","url":"\/news\/international"}],"primaryTheme":{"id":1,"urlSafeValue":"news","title":"World"},"advertising":0,"advertisingData":{"startDate":0,"endDate":0,"type":null,"slug":null,"title":null,"disclaimerLabelKey":null,"sponsor":null,"sponsorName":null,"sponsorUrl":null,"sponsorLogo":"","sponsorLogoReverse":"","isDfp":0},"geoLocation":{"lat":0,"lon":0},"location":1,"continent":{"id":12,"urlSafeValue":"asia","title":"Asia"},"country":{"id":268,"urlSafeValue":"syria","title":"Syria","url":"\/news\/asia\/syria"},"town":[],"contextualSignals":{"doubleVerify":{"ids":["80023001","80122011","84111001","84112001","84211001","84212001"],"slugs":["aggregated_all_moderate_content","law_government_and_politics","law_government_and_politics_general","society","society_general","terrorism_high_medium_and_low_risk"]}},"grapeshot":null,"versions":[],"programDeliverable":{"slug":"sujet","format":"default"},"showOpinionDisclaimer":0,"allViews":0,"allViewsMeta":{"pointOfView":[],"survey":[],"tweetId":0,"tweet2NdId":0,"displayOverlay":0},"storyTranslationMethod":[],"localisation":[],"path":"\/2024\/12\/14\/top-diplomats-from-us-arab-league-and-turkey-meet-to-discuss-syrias-transition","lastModified":1734189236},{"id":2702648,"cid":8910688,"versionId":1,"archive":0,"housenumber":"241213_NCSU_57271775","owner":"euronews","isMagazine":0,"isBreakingNews":0,"daletEventName":"NC6 SYRIA SAYDNAYA PRISON","channels":[{"id":1},{"id":2},{"id":3},{"id":5},{"id":10},{"id":12},{"id":14}],"status":2,"title":"WATCH: Families search Saydnaya prison for missing loved ones","titleSeo":null,"titleListing1":"WATCH: Families search Saydnaya prison for missing loved ones","titleListing2":"Thousands of Syrians have flocked to Saydnaya prison, infamous for mass executions and torture under Assad\u2019s regime, seeking news of missing relatives. Known as the \"Human Slaughterhouse,\" Saydnaya was taken over by rebel forces on 8 December 2024.","leadin":"Thousands of Syrians have flocked to Saydnaya prison, infamous for mass executions and torture under Assad\u2019s regime, seeking news of missing relatives. Known as the \"Human Slaughterhouse,\" Saydnaya was taken over by rebel forces on 8 December 2024, leading to the release of surviving inmates.","summary":"Thousands of Syrians have flocked to Saydnaya prison, infamous for mass executions and torture under Assad\u2019s regime, seeking news of missing relatives. Known as the \"Human Slaughterhouse,\" Saydnaya was taken over by rebel forces on 8 December 2024, leading to the release of surviving inmates.","keySentence":"","url":"watch-families-search-saydnaya-prison-for-missing-loved-ones","canonical":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2024\/12\/13\/watch-families-search-saydnaya-prison-for-missing-loved-ones","masterCms":"v2","plainText":"The facility, 30 km from Damascus, symbolised Assad's repression, with Amnesty International estimating up to 13,000 extrajudicial executions between 2011 and 2016. Inmates endured unimaginable torture, including forced cannibalism.\n\nHuman rights groups urge action against the regime\u2019s atrocities. Rebels are releasing prisoners, while the Assad guards remain among Syria\u2019s most wanted fugitives. Survivors and families now demand justice and accountability.\n\n","htmlText":"<p>The facility, 30 km from Damascus, symbolised Assad's repression, with Amnesty International estimating up to 13,000 extrajudicial executions between 2011 and 2016. Inmates endured unimaginable torture, including forced cannibalism.<\/p>\n<p>Human rights groups urge action against the regime\u2019s atrocities. Rebels are releasing prisoners, while the Assad guards remain among Syria\u2019s most wanted fugitives. Survivors and families now demand justice and accountability.<\/p>\n","hashtag":null,"createdAt":1734103930,"updatedAt":1734107947,"publishedAt":1734107501,"firstPublishedAt":1734107501,"lastPublishedAt":1734107501,"expiresAt":0,"images":[{"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/91\/06\/90\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_ccd58221-6d16-54bf-93ac-04b9a7714b68-8910690.jpg","altText":"Families search Saydnaya prison for missing loved ones","caption":"Families search Saydnaya prison for missing loved ones","captionUrl":null,"captionCredit":"RTP","sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"callToActionText":null,"width":1920,"height":1080}],"authors":{"journalists":[{"id":176,"urlSafeValue":"caraco","title":"Alexis Caraco","twitter":null}],"producers":[],"videoEditor":[{"id":176,"urlSafeValue":"caraco","title":"Alexis Caraco","twitter":null}]},"keywords":[{"id":5728,"slug":"bashar-al-assad","urlSafeValue":"bashar-al-assad","title":"Bashar al-Assad","titleRaw":"Bashar al-Assad"},{"id":17039,"slug":"rebels","urlSafeValue":"rebels","title":"Rebels","titleRaw":"Rebels"},{"id":11937,"slug":"political-prisoner","urlSafeValue":"political-prisoner","title":"political prisoner","titleRaw":"political prisoner"},{"id":4886,"slug":"jail","urlSafeValue":"jail","title":"Jail","titleRaw":"Jail"},{"id":8155,"slug":"syria","urlSafeValue":"syria","title":"Syria","titleRaw":"Syria"}],"widgets":[],"related":[{"id":2701694},{"id":2701722},{"id":2699006}],"technicalTags":[],"externalPartners":{"youtubeId":"bsPYN1xlaig","dailymotionId":"x9aqujm"},"hasExternalVideo":0,"video":1,"videos":[{"duration":60000,"editor":"","filesizeBytes":7539379,"format":"mp4","type":"normal","url":"https:\/\/video.euronews.com\/mp4\/med\/EN\/NC\/SU\/24\/12\/13\/en\/241213_NCSU_57271775_57271935_60000_164522_en.mp4","expiresAt":0,"quality":"md"},{"duration":60000,"editor":"","filesizeBytes":11516083,"format":"mp4","type":"normal","url":"https:\/\/video.euronews.com\/mp4\/EN\/NC\/SU\/24\/12\/13\/en\/241213_NCSU_57271775_57271935_60000_164522_en.mp4","expiresAt":0,"quality":"hd"}],"liveStream":[{"startDate":0,"endDate":0}],"scribbleLiveId":0,"scribbleLiveRibbon":0,"isLiveCoverage":0,"sourceId":1,"sources":[],"externalSource":"RTP","additionalSources":"","additionalReporting":"","freeField1":null,"freeField2":"","type":"normal","displayType":"default","program":{"id":"nocomment","urlSafeValue":"nocomment","title":"No Comment","online":1,"url":"\/nocomment"},"vertical":"news","verticals":[{"id":1,"slug":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"News"}],"primaryVertical":{"id":1,"slug":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"News"},"themes":[{"id":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"World","url":"\/news\/international"}],"primaryTheme":{"id":1,"urlSafeValue":"news","title":"World"},"advertising":0,"advertisingData":{"startDate":0,"endDate":0,"type":null,"slug":null,"title":null,"disclaimerLabelKey":null,"sponsor":null,"sponsorName":null,"sponsorUrl":null,"sponsorLogo":"","sponsorLogoReverse":"","isDfp":0},"geoLocation":{"lat":0,"lon":0},"location":1,"continent":{"id":12,"urlSafeValue":"asia","title":"Asia"},"country":{"id":268,"urlSafeValue":"syria","title":"Syria","url":"\/news\/asia\/syria"},"town":{"id":1802,"urlSafeValue":"damascus","title":"Damascus"},"contextualSignals":{"doubleVerify":{"ids":[],"slugs":[]}},"grapeshot":null,"versions":[],"programDeliverable":{"slug":"sujet","format":"default"},"showOpinionDisclaimer":0,"allViews":0,"allViewsMeta":{"pointOfView":[],"survey":[],"tweetId":0,"tweet2NdId":0,"displayOverlay":0},"storyTranslationMethod":[],"localisation":[],"path":"\/video\/2024\/12\/13\/watch-families-search-saydnaya-prison-for-missing-loved-ones","lastModified":1734107501},{"id":2701722,"cid":8908032,"versionId":2,"archive":0,"housenumber":"241212_NCSU_57260483","owner":"euronews","isMagazine":0,"isBreakingNews":0,"daletEventName":"NC 3 SYRIA HOMS PROTEST","channels":[{"id":1},{"id":2},{"id":3},{"id":4},{"id":5},{"id":6},{"id":8},{"id":10},{"id":12},{"id":14}],"status":2,"title":"Homs celebrates the end of Assad's regime","titleSeo":null,"titleListing1":"Homs celebrates the end of Assad's regime","titleListing2":"After nearly 14 years of civil war, Syrians are beginning to return home. In the Baba Amr district of Homs, residents are celebrating the end of the Assad regime, welcoming former exiles and hoping for a new life.","leadin":"After nearly 14 years of civil war, Syrians are beginning to return home. In the Baba Amr district of Homs, residents are celebrating the end of the Assad regime, welcoming former exiles and hoping for a new life.","summary":"After nearly 14 years of civil war, Syrians are beginning to return home. In the Baba Amr district of Homs, residents are celebrating the end of the Assad regime, welcoming former exiles and hoping for a new life.","keySentence":"","url":"homs-celebrates-the-end-of-assads-regime","canonical":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2024\/12\/12\/homs-celebrates-the-end-of-assads-regime","masterCms":"v2","plainText":"","htmlText":"","hashtag":null,"createdAt":1734011293,"updatedAt":1734035656,"publishedAt":1734023734,"firstPublishedAt":1734023734,"lastPublishedAt":1734035647,"expiresAt":0,"images":[{"sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"captionCredit":"AP","altText":"People celebrating in street of Baba Amr district","callToActionText":null,"width":1920,"caption":"People celebrating in street of Baba Amr district","url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/80\/30\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_8bf544ab-a559-54ed-b8b8-8d80aeac2aa1-8908030.jpg","captionUrl":null,"height":1080}],"authors":{"journalists":[{"urlSafeValue":"caraco","twitter":null,"id":176,"title":"Alexis Caraco"}],"producers":[],"videoEditor":[{"urlSafeValue":"caraco","twitter":null,"id":176,"title":"Alexis Caraco"}]},"keywords":[{"urlSafeValue":"syria","titleRaw":"Syria","id":8155,"title":"Syria","slug":"syria"},{"urlSafeValue":"bashar-al-assad","titleRaw":"Bashar al-Assad","id":5728,"title":"Bashar al-Assad","slug":"bashar-al-assad"},{"urlSafeValue":"rebels","titleRaw":"Rebels","id":17039,"title":"Rebels","slug":"rebels"},{"urlSafeValue":"celebration","titleRaw":"Celebration","id":13156,"title":"Celebration","slug":"celebration"}],"widgets":[],"related":[{"id":2701440},{"id":2701154},{"id":2700784}],"technicalTags":[],"externalPartners":{"youtubeId":"1F-H7QFKuWE","dailymotionId":"x9aoyb2"},"hasExternalVideo":1,"video":1,"videos":[{"duration":60000,"editor":"","filesizeBytes":7738729,"format":"mp4","type":"normal","url":"https:\/\/video.euronews.com\/mp4\/med\/EN\/NC\/SU\/24\/12\/12\/en\/241212_NCSU_57260483_57260529_60000_145215_en.mp4","expiresAt":0,"quality":"md"},{"duration":60000,"editor":"","filesizeBytes":11827561,"format":"mp4","type":"normal","url":"https:\/\/video.euronews.com\/mp4\/EN\/NC\/SU\/24\/12\/12\/en\/241212_NCSU_57260483_57260529_60000_145215_en.mp4","expiresAt":0,"quality":"hd"}],"liveStream":[{"endDate":0,"startDate":0}],"scribbleLiveId":0,"scribbleLiveRibbon":0,"isLiveCoverage":0,"sourceId":1,"sources":[],"externalSource":"AP","additionalSources":"","additionalReporting":"","freeField1":null,"freeField2":"","type":"normal","displayType":"default","program":{"id":"nocomment","urlSafeValue":"nocomment","title":"No Comment","online":1,"url":"\/nocomment"},"vertical":"news","verticals":[{"urlSafeValue":"news","id":1,"title":"News","slug":"news"}],"primaryVertical":{"id":1,"slug":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"News"},"themes":[{"urlSafeValue":"news","id":"news","title":"World","url":"\/news\/international"}],"primaryTheme":{"id":1,"urlSafeValue":"news","title":"World"},"advertising":0,"advertisingData":{"startDate":0,"endDate":0,"type":null,"slug":null,"title":null,"disclaimerLabelKey":null,"sponsor":null,"sponsorName":null,"sponsorUrl":null,"sponsorLogo":"","sponsorLogoReverse":"","isDfp":0},"geoLocation":{"lat":0,"lon":0},"location":1,"continent":{"id":12,"urlSafeValue":"asia","title":"Asia"},"country":{"id":268,"urlSafeValue":"syria","title":"Syria","url":"\/news\/asia\/syria"},"town":{"id":4734,"urlSafeValue":"homs","title":"Homs"},"contextualSignals":{"doubleVerify":{"ids":[],"slugs":[]}},"grapeshot":null,"versions":[],"programDeliverable":{"slug":"sujet","format":"default"},"showOpinionDisclaimer":0,"allViews":0,"allViewsMeta":{"pointOfView":[],"survey":[],"tweetId":0,"tweet2NdId":0,"displayOverlay":0},"storyTranslationMethod":[],"localisation":[],"path":"\/video\/2024\/12\/12\/homs-celebrates-the-end-of-assads-regime","lastModified":1734035647},{"id":2701686,"cid":8907886,"versionId":2,"archive":0,"housenumber":"241212_NWSU_57260040","owner":"euronews","isMagazine":0,"isBreakingNews":0,"daletEventName":"Israel Kuperwasser","channels":[{"id":1},{"id":2},{"id":3},{"id":4},{"id":5},{"id":10},{"id":12},{"id":14}],"status":2,"title":"Fear of the unknown or unique chance? How Israel plays its cards in the Syrian crisis","titleSeo":null,"titleListing1":" How Israel plays its cards in the Syrian crisis","titleListing2":"Fear of the unknown or unique chance? How Israel plays its cards in the Syrian crisis","leadin":"Israel has moved to prevent the emergence of new threats from Syria. Lebanon, meanwhile, is worried about becoming the future battlefield of the region","summary":"Israel has moved to prevent the emergence of new threats from Syria. Lebanon, meanwhile, is worried about becoming the future battlefield of the region","keySentence":"","url":"fear-of-the-unknown-or-unique-chance-how-israel-plays-its-cards-in-the-syrian-crisis","canonical":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2024\/12\/12\/fear-of-the-unknown-or-unique-chance-how-israel-plays-its-cards-in-the-syrian-crisis","masterCms":"v2","plainText":"Israel has warned the US about its security concerns concerning the future of Syria. The Israeli defence minister Israel Katz and his American counterpart, Lloyd Austin, have convened to establish \u201cpermanent consultations\u201d on the evolutions of the situation in the region.\n\nIsrael is highly sceptical about the rebranded moderate political approach displayed by Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, leader of Hayat Taharir al Sham (HTS) and its preoccupations goes beyond the borders of Syria.\n\nYossi Kuperwasser, on leave general of the Israeli military intelligence (Aman) says that the fall of the Assad\u2019s regime \u201cis, of course, a very severe blow to the Iranian axis\u201d\n\nYet, adds Kuperwasser:\n\n\u201cAssad was replaced mainly by other extremists from another axis, the axis of the Muslim Brotherhood and their allies. So we shall have to wait and see how things are unfolding in Syria\u201d.\n\nThis is why, since the conquer of Damascus by the Hayat Taharir al Sham (HTS) militias and their allies, Israel has increased its preventive military pressure on Syrian military targets to avoid the ex Assad\u2019s weaponry, provided by Russia in the past decades, to fall into the hands of the new masters of Syria.\n\nAs opposed, other regional powers and countries are concerned by the medium and longer terms intentions of Israel regarding the territorial integrity of Syria. \u00a0\u00a0\n\nOn 10 December the Turkish president Recep Tayyip told the Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni on the phone that the incursions of the IDF are part of an \u201caggression that does not contribute to Syria\u2019s stability\u201d.\n\nT\u00fcrkiye has outspokenly criticized the occupation by Israel on the 10 of December of the buffer zone in the Golan Heights. This buffer zone is a UN established portion of the Golan plateau (formally recognized as Syrian) yet, occupied by Israel after the Six-Days War in 1967.\n\nNetanyahu claimed that the Golan Heights will be \u201cIsraeli for eternity\u201d.\n\n\u201cT\u00fcrkiye and the Muslim Brotherhood are more or less the same thing. So, yes, the Muslim Brotherhood in different versions and in Turkey are behind many of the groups that make the Syrian new regime. And even if they are trying to keep a low profile in this respect, we know that these groups will not be able to arm themselves and operate without some Turkish support\u201d concludes Kuperwasser.\n\nThe Lebanese fears\n\nThe end of Assad\u2019s Syria has bisected the connections between Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah and inflicted a lethal hit to this weakened die-hard enemy of Israel.\n\nThe US has announced that Israel has started pulling-out the first military units from Southern Lebanon that are being replaced by the Lebanese Armed Forces according to the cease-fire between Israel and the Hezbollah. \n\nAfter the war between the Hezbollah and the Israeli army, Lebanon is afraid of the new unknown threats that could come from Syria if the radicalism will prevail in Damascus. \u00a0\u00a0\n\nBashir Khoder Mouhafez, the Lebanese governor of the Baalbek province, at the border with Syria, shares with Euronews some of his concerns: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\n\n\u201cThe Lebanese army is doing everything, first of all, to control the borders, which is a very difficult mission, especially when you don't have someone from the other side of the border to work with or to have some kind of cooperation was\u201d.\n\nThe main concerns of the Lebanese authorities derive at the moment from the refugees situation:\n\n\u201cBefore the last Lebanese war, we used to have 2 million Syrians in Lebanon. Most of them were considered as refugees or displaced people in Lebanon. Around 400,000 Syrian. Now things are a little bit chaotic. Some people want to go back, some people that are running, trying to enter Lebanon\u201d concludes Bachir Khoder Mouhafez.\n\n","htmlText":"<p>Israel has warned the US about its security concerns concerning the future of Syria. The Israeli defence minister Israel Katz and his American counterpart, Lloyd Austin, have convened to establish \u201cpermanent consultations\u201d on the evolutions of the situation in the region.<\/p>\n<p>Israel is highly sceptical about the rebranded moderate political approach displayed by Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, leader of Hayat Taharir al Sham (HTS) and its preoccupations goes beyond the borders of Syria.<\/p>\n<p>Yossi Kuperwasser, on leave general of the Israeli military intelligence (<em>Aman<\/em>) says that the fall of the Assad\u2019s regime \u201cis, of course, a very severe blow to the Iranian axis\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Yet, adds Kuperwasser:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAssad was replaced mainly by other extremists from another axis, the axis of the Muslim Brotherhood and their allies. So we shall have to wait and see how things are unfolding in Syria\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>This is why, since the conquer of Damascus by the Hayat Taharir al Sham (HTS) militias and their allies, Israel has increased its preventive military pressure on Syrian military targets to avoid the ex Assad\u2019s weaponry, provided by Russia in the past decades, to fall into the hands of the new masters of Syria.<\/p>\n<p>As opposed, other regional powers and countries are concerned by the medium and longer terms intentions of Israel regarding the territorial integrity of Syria. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On 10 December the Turkish president Recep Tayyip told the Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni on the phone that the incursions of the IDF are part of an \u201caggression that does not contribute to Syria\u2019s stability\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>T\u00fcrkiye has outspokenly criticized the occupation by Israel on the 10 of December of the buffer zone in the Golan Heights. This buffer zone is a UN established portion of the Golan plateau (formally recognized as Syrian) yet, occupied by Israel after the Six-Days War in 1967.<\/p>\n<p>Netanyahu claimed that the Golan Heights will be \u201cIsraeli for eternity\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cT\u00fcrkiye and the Muslim Brotherhood are more or less the same thing. So, yes, the Muslim Brotherhood in different versions and in Turkey are behind many of the groups that make the Syrian new regime. And even if they are trying to keep a low profile in this respect, we know that these groups will not be able to arm themselves and operate without some Turkish support\u201d concludes Kuperwasser.<\/p>\n<div class=\"widget widget--type-image widget--size-fullwidth widget--animation-fade-in widget--align-center\" data-ratio=\"0.6669921875\">\n <div class=\"widget__wrapper\">\n <div class=\"widget__ratio widget__ratio--auto\">\n <div class=\"widget__contents\">\n <figure class=\"widget__figure\">\n <img class=\"widgetImage__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////static.euronews.com//articles//stories//08//90//78//86//808x539_cmsv2_d156dec3-731f-5ced-8bbf-e584fbd4b384-8907886.jpg/" alt=\"Israeli soldiers shop in a coffee store in northern Israel near the Lebanon border, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo\/Matias Delacroix)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/78\/86\/384x256_cmsv2_d156dec3-731f-5ced-8bbf-e584fbd4b384-8907886.jpg 384w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/78\/86\/640x427_cmsv2_d156dec3-731f-5ced-8bbf-e584fbd4b384-8907886.jpg 640w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/78\/86\/750x500_cmsv2_d156dec3-731f-5ced-8bbf-e584fbd4b384-8907886.jpg 750w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/78\/86\/828x552_cmsv2_d156dec3-731f-5ced-8bbf-e584fbd4b384-8907886.jpg 828w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/78\/86\/1080x720_cmsv2_d156dec3-731f-5ced-8bbf-e584fbd4b384-8907886.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/78\/86\/1200x800_cmsv2_d156dec3-731f-5ced-8bbf-e584fbd4b384-8907886.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/78\/86\/1920x1281_cmsv2_d156dec3-731f-5ced-8bbf-e584fbd4b384-8907886.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 95vw, (max-width: 1024px) 80vw, (max-width: 1280px) 55vw, 728px\"\/>\n <figcaption class=\"widget__caption\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionWrap\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionText\">Israeli soldiers shop in a coffee store in northern Israel near the Lebanon border, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo\/Matias Delacroix)<\/span>\n <span class=\"widget__captionCredit\">Matias Delacroix\/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved<\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2>The Lebanese fears<\/h2><p>The end of Assad\u2019s Syria has bisected the connections between Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah and inflicted a lethal hit to this weakened die-hard enemy of Israel.<\/p>\n<p>The US has announced that Israel has started pulling-out the first military units from Southern Lebanon that are being replaced by the Lebanese Armed Forces according to the cease-fire between Israel and the Hezbollah. <\/p>\n<p>After the war between the Hezbollah and the Israeli army, Lebanon is afraid of the new unknown threats that could come from Syria if the radicalism will prevail in Damascus. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Bashir Khoder Mouhafez, the Lebanese governor of the Baalbek province, at the border with Syria, shares with Euronews some of his concerns: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Lebanese army is doing everything, first of all, to control the borders, which is a very difficult mission, especially when you don't have someone from the other side of the border to work with or to have some kind of cooperation was\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The main concerns of the Lebanese authorities derive at the moment from the refugees situation:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore the last Lebanese war, we used to have 2 million Syrians in Lebanon. Most of them were considered as refugees or displaced people in Lebanon. Around 400,000 Syrian. Now things are a little bit chaotic. Some people want to go back, some people that are running, trying to enter Lebanon\u201d concludes Bachir Khoder Mouhafez.<\/p>\n","hashtag":null,"createdAt":1734008603,"updatedAt":1734025161,"publishedAt":1734022562,"firstPublishedAt":1734022562,"lastPublishedAt":1734025160,"expiresAt":0,"images":[{"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/78\/86\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_3f160353-5c0f-5c25-8e73-c2336e2e4043-8907886.jpg","altText":"Israeli soldiers with the national flag stand on an armoured vehicle after crossing the security fence near the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-controlled Gola","caption":"Israeli soldiers with the national flag stand on an armoured vehicle after crossing the security fence near the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-controlled Gola","captionUrl":null,"captionCredit":"Matias Delacroix\/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved","sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"callToActionText":null,"width":1024,"height":683},{"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/78\/86\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_d156dec3-731f-5ced-8bbf-e584fbd4b384-8907886.jpg","altText":null,"caption":null,"captionUrl":null,"captionCredit":null,"sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"callToActionText":null,"width":1024,"height":683}],"authors":{"journalists":[{"id":26,"urlSafeValue":"cantone","title":"Sergio Cantone","twitter":null}],"producers":[],"videoEditor":[]},"keywords":[{"id":8155,"slug":"syria","urlSafeValue":"syria","title":"Syria","titleRaw":"Syria"},{"id":10547,"slug":"syrian-politics","urlSafeValue":"syrian-politics","title":"Syrian politics","titleRaw":"Syrian politics"},{"id":15048,"slug":"golan-heights","urlSafeValue":"golan-heights","title":"Golan Heights","titleRaw":"Golan Heights"},{"id":284,"slug":"turkey","urlSafeValue":"turkey","title":"Turkiye (Turkey)","titleRaw":"Turkiye (Turkey)"},{"id":8397,"slug":"recep-tayyip-erdogan","urlSafeValue":"recep-tayyip-erdogan","title":"Recep Tayyip Erdogan","titleRaw":"Recep Tayyip Erdogan"},{"id":11318,"slug":"muslim-brotherhood","urlSafeValue":"muslim-brotherhood","title":"Muslim Brotherhood","titleRaw":"Muslim Brotherhood"}],"widgets":[{"slug":"image","count":1}],"related":[{"id":2699408},{"id":2698056},{"id":2693678}],"technicalTags":[],"externalPartners":[],"hasExternalVideo":0,"video":0,"videos":[],"liveStream":[{"startDate":0,"endDate":0}],"scribbleLiveId":0,"scribbleLiveRibbon":0,"isLiveCoverage":0,"sourceId":1,"sources":[],"externalSource":null,"additionalSources":null,"additionalReporting":null,"freeField1":null,"freeField2":"","type":"normal","displayType":"default","program":{"id":"world","urlSafeValue":"world","title":"World News","online":1,"url":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/programs\/world"},"vertical":"news","verticals":[{"id":1,"slug":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"News"}],"primaryVertical":{"id":1,"slug":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"News"},"themes":[{"id":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"World","url":"\/news\/international"}],"primaryTheme":{"id":1,"urlSafeValue":"news","title":"World"},"advertising":0,"advertisingData":{"startDate":0,"endDate":0,"type":null,"slug":null,"title":null,"disclaimerLabelKey":null,"sponsor":null,"sponsorName":null,"sponsorUrl":null,"sponsorLogo":"","sponsorLogoReverse":"","isDfp":0},"geoLocation":{"lat":0,"lon":0},"location":1,"continent":{"id":12,"urlSafeValue":"asia","title":"Asia"},"country":{"id":268,"urlSafeValue":"syria","title":"Syria","url":"\/news\/asia\/syria"},"town":{"id":1802,"urlSafeValue":"damascus","title":"Damascus"},"contextualSignals":{"doubleVerify":{"ids":["80023001","80122009","80222009","84111001","84112005"],"slugs":["aggregated_all_moderate_content","human_made_disasters_high_and_medium_risk","human_made_disasters_high_medium_and_low_risk","law_gov_t_and_politics_legal_politics","law_government_and_politics"]}},"grapeshot":null,"versions":[],"programDeliverable":{"slug":"sujet","format":"default"},"showOpinionDisclaimer":0,"allViews":0,"allViewsMeta":{"pointOfView":[],"survey":[],"tweetId":0,"tweet2NdId":0,"displayOverlay":0},"storyTranslationMethod":[],"localisation":[],"path":"\/2024\/12\/12\/fear-of-the-unknown-or-unique-chance-how-israel-plays-its-cards-in-the-syrian-crisis","lastModified":1734025160},{"id":2699654,"cid":8901804,"versionId":7,"archive":0,"housenumber":"241212_EMSU_57238933","owner":"euronews","isMagazine":0,"isBreakingNews":0,"daletEventName":"EUROPE IN MOTION THURSDADY STORY","channels":[{"id":1},{"id":2},{"id":4},{"id":5},{"id":10},{"id":12},{"id":14}],"status":2,"title":"What's next for Syrians and the HTS after al-Assad?","titleSeo":null,"titleListing1":"What's next for Syrians and the HTS after al-Assad?","titleListing2":"After Assad: Syrians 'shouldn't trust the HTS' as human rights remain under threat","leadin":"Syria's new ruling faction has cut ties with al-Qaeda and pledged to respect religious minorities. But their track record leaves many open questions about the future of democracy in post-al-Assad Syria.","summary":"Syria's new ruling faction has cut ties with al-Qaeda and pledged to respect religious minorities. But their track record leaves many open questions about the future of democracy in post-al-Assad Syria.","keySentence":"","url":"after-assad-syrians-shouldnt-trust-the-hts-as-human-rights-remain-under-threat","canonical":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2024\/12\/12\/after-assad-syrians-shouldnt-trust-the-hts-as-human-rights-remain-under-threat","masterCms":"v2","plainText":"The future of Syria remains uncertain as the country transitions from the regime of Bashar al-Assad to a new government.\n\nThe country remains under pressure, with the Israeli invasion of areas in the Golan Heights and bombardments on Syrian military capabilities throughout the country, as well as Turkey-backed attacks on the Kurds in the northeast.\n\nThe new transition executive led by the rebel faction that toppled al-Assad \u2014 Hay\u02bcat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) \u2014 is trying to consolidate its power and unify the country by establishing contacts with the armed groups in the south, presenting itself, at the same time, as a moderate power.\n\nDo human and women's rights remain under threat in Syria?\n\nThe HTS cut its ties with al-Qaeda in 2016 and even promoted itself as a potential partner in the fight against terrorism, Syrian political scientist Joseph Daher told Euronews.\n\n\"There's been a clear evolution of the party since it started to govern some parts of Syria and establish its administration,\" Daher said.\n\nYet, he says, \"Syrians shouldn't trust them. It's an authoritarian organisation with an Islamic fundamentalist ideology.\"\n\n\"They're trying to look like a moderate, rational and legitimate actor. Does it mean they're a democratic organisation? Not at all.\"\n\nThe group pledged tolerance for religious minorities, but \"that doesn't mean they accept them as equal\", says Daher.\n\n\"It's not about being able to pray or not, it's about participating in the decision-making process.\"\n\n\"Women's rights are also a challenge. HTS didn't hesitate to close NGOs or organisations promoting gender equality.\"\n\n\"Their violations of human rights \u2014 such as arresting political opponents \u2014 were also condemned in protests a few months ago. But we have to be clear that alAssad's regime was a barbaric and despotic dictatorship.\"\n\n\"Everything will depend on the ability of the Syrian society to defend its rights and organise itself as a democratic bloc, establish independent trade unions, feminist organisations, local associations and connecting them through national structures and so on\".\n\nWhat's going to happen to Syrian refugees in Europe?\n\nThe overthrow of the al-Assad government could change the fate of thousands of Syrian asylum seekers in Europe.\n\nSince the civil war broke out in 2011, hundreds of thousands of Syrians sought protection in Europe and other neighbouring countries.\n\nTurkey alone is estimated to host three million Syrian asylum seekers, according to official data, but the actual figures might be much higher.\n\nIn the EU, Syrians were the largest group to receive protection status in 2023 (32%), with around 130,000 people.\n\nSyrians and Venezuelans had the highest recognition rate following an application, over 90%.\n\nLast year, EU member states approved 51,250 applications from Syrian citizens or half the 2018 peak of 103,365.\u00a0Eurostat data shows\u00a0that the number has been decreasing since then.\n\nIn 2023, Germany approved the most applications (16,230), followed by France (13,605), Italy (11,315), Austria (3,645) and the Netherlands (1,660).\n\nWithin the bloc, Germany is home to the largest Syrian population, with more than 1.2 million people. But the end of \"the al-Assad tyranny\", as Berlin called it, has prompted Germany to freeze nearly 50,000 asylum applications.\n\nFrance, the UK, Italy, Belgium, Norway, Denmark and Sweden announced similar measures. Austria \u2014 which is home to around 95,000 Syrian refugees, went even further by declaring the preparation of deportation plans.\n\nSyrians 'shouldn't be forced to go back'\n\n\"Syria is not a secure country even if al-Assad is gone,\" says Daher.\n\n\"Syrian refugees should have the right to stay or to go back if they want. But they shouldn't be pushed,\" he explains.\n\n\"The situation in the country is very bad: 90% of the population lives in poverty. There's a massive destruction of infrastructure, lots of qualified manpower have left the country, and transport links are very bad.\"\n\n\"The agriculture sector has suffered a lot of destruction, and salaries are very low. And even if people do go back, we don't know if their houses have been destroyed or not,\" Dahed adds.\n\n\"Syria will still need international and humanitarian assistance for its development in the coming years. The next government shouldn't repeat the mistakes of the previous one by choosing a development that benefits only a small minority instead of the majority of Syrians.\"\n\n\"There is still a lot of uncertainty now, but also hope to rebuild\".\n\n","htmlText":"<p>The future of Syria remains uncertain as the country transitions from the regime of Bashar al-Assad to a new government.<\/p>\n<p>The country remains under pressure, with the Israeli invasion of areas in the Golan Heights and bombardments on Syrian military capabilities throughout the country, as well as Turkey-backed attacks on the Kurds in the northeast.<\/p>\n<p>The new transition executive led by the rebel faction that toppled al-Assad \u2014 Hay\u02bcat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) \u2014 is trying to consolidate its power and unify the country by establishing contacts with the armed groups in the south, presenting itself, at the same time, as a moderate power.<\/p>\n<h2>Do human and women's rights remain under threat in Syria?<\/h2><p>The HTS cut its ties with al-Qaeda in 2016 and even promoted itself as a potential partner in the fight against terrorism, Syrian political scientist Joseph Daher told Euronews.<\/p>\n<p>\"There's been a clear evolution of the party since it started to govern some parts of Syria and establish its administration,\" Daher said.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, he says, \"Syrians shouldn't trust them. It's an authoritarian organisation with an Islamic fundamentalist ideology.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"They're trying to look like a moderate, rational and legitimate actor. Does it mean they're a democratic organisation? Not at all.\"<\/p>\n<p>The group pledged tolerance for religious minorities, but \"that doesn't mean they accept them as equal\", says Daher.<\/p>\n<p>\"It's not about being able to pray or not, it's about participating in the decision-making process.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"Women's rights are also a challenge. HTS didn't hesitate to close NGOs or organisations promoting gender equality.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"Their violations of human rights \u2014 such as arresting political opponents \u2014 were also condemned in protests a few months ago. But we have to be clear that alAssad's regime was a barbaric and despotic dictatorship.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"Everything will depend on the ability of the Syrian society to defend its rights and organise itself as a democratic bloc, establish independent trade unions, feminist organisations, local associations and connecting them through national structures and so on\".<\/p>\n<div class=\"widget widget--type-image widget--size-fullwidth widget--animation-fade-in widget--align-center\" data-ratio=\"0.6669921875\">\n <div class=\"widget__wrapper\">\n <div class=\"widget__ratio widget__ratio--auto\">\n <div class=\"widget__contents\">\n <figure class=\"widget__figure\">\n <img class=\"widgetImage__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////static.euronews.com//articles//stories//08//90//18//04//808x539_cmsv2_2eba7a43-6eca-5992-898b-e33647c753f0-8901804.jpg/" alt=\"Syrian opposition fighters celebrate after the Syrian government collapsed in Damascus, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/18\/04\/384x256_cmsv2_2eba7a43-6eca-5992-898b-e33647c753f0-8901804.jpg 384w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/18\/04\/640x427_cmsv2_2eba7a43-6eca-5992-898b-e33647c753f0-8901804.jpg 640w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/18\/04\/750x500_cmsv2_2eba7a43-6eca-5992-898b-e33647c753f0-8901804.jpg 750w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/18\/04\/828x552_cmsv2_2eba7a43-6eca-5992-898b-e33647c753f0-8901804.jpg 828w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/18\/04\/1080x720_cmsv2_2eba7a43-6eca-5992-898b-e33647c753f0-8901804.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/18\/04\/1200x800_cmsv2_2eba7a43-6eca-5992-898b-e33647c753f0-8901804.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/18\/04\/1920x1281_cmsv2_2eba7a43-6eca-5992-898b-e33647c753f0-8901804.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 95vw, (max-width: 1024px) 80vw, (max-width: 1280px) 55vw, 728px\"\/>\n <figcaption class=\"widget__caption\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionWrap\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionText\">Syrian opposition fighters celebrate after the Syrian government collapsed in Damascus, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024<\/span>\n <span class=\"widget__captionCredit\">AP\/Omar Sanadiki<\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2>What's going to happen to Syrian refugees in Europe?<\/h2><p>The overthrow of the al-Assad government could change the fate of thousands of Syrian asylum seekers in Europe.<\/p>\n<p>Since the civil war broke out in 2011, hundreds of thousands of Syrians sought protection in Europe and other neighbouring countries.<\/p>\n<p>Turkey alone is estimated to host three million Syrian asylum seekers, according to official data, but the actual figures might be much higher.<\/p>\n<p>In the EU, Syrians were the largest group to receive protection status in 2023 (32%), with around 130,000 people.<\/p>\n<p>Syrians and Venezuelans had the highest recognition rate following an application, over 90%.<\/p>\n<div class=\"widget widget--type-flourish widget--size-fullwidth widget--align-center\">\n <div class=\"widget__wrapper\">\n <figure class=\"widget__figure\">\n <div class=\"flourish-embed flourish-chart u-min-height-375\" data-src=\"visualisation\/20739314?92060\"><\/div>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Last year, EU member states approved 51,250 applications from Syrian citizens or half the 2018 peak of 103,365.\u00a0<a href=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////ec.europa.eu//eurostat//databrowser//view//migr_asydcfina__custom_14420831//default//table?lang=en\%22>Eurostat data shows<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0that the number has been decreasing since then.<\/p>\n<p>In 2023, Germany approved the most applications (16,230), followed by France (13,605), Italy (11,315), Austria (3,645) and the Netherlands (1,660).<\/p>\n<p>Within the bloc, Germany is home to the largest Syrian population, with <a href=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////www.destatis.de//DE//Themen//Gesellschaft-Umwelt//Bevoelkerung//Migration-Integration//Tabellen//migrationshintergrund-staatsangehoerigkeit-staaten.html/">more than 1.2 million people<\/strong><\/a>. But the end of \"the al-Assad tyranny\", as Berlin called it, has prompted Germany to freeze nearly 50,000 asylum applications.<\/p>\n<p>France, the UK, Italy, Belgium, Norway, Denmark and Sweden announced similar measures. Austria \u2014 which is home to around 95,000 Syrian refugees, went even further by declaring the preparation of deportation plans.<\/p>\n<div class=\"widget widget--type-image widget--size-fullwidth widget--animation-fade-in widget--align-center\" data-ratio=\"0.6669921875\">\n <div class=\"widget__wrapper\">\n <div class=\"widget__ratio widget__ratio--auto\">\n <div class=\"widget__contents\">\n <figure class=\"widget__figure\">\n <img class=\"widgetImage__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////static.euronews.com//articles//stories//08//90//18//04//808x539_cmsv2_216d234d-ccfb-5d8d-a046-a9fe276d0569-8901804.jpg/" alt=\"An opposition fighter poses for a photograph inside the 7th century Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/18\/04\/384x256_cmsv2_216d234d-ccfb-5d8d-a046-a9fe276d0569-8901804.jpg 384w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/18\/04\/640x427_cmsv2_216d234d-ccfb-5d8d-a046-a9fe276d0569-8901804.jpg 640w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/18\/04\/750x500_cmsv2_216d234d-ccfb-5d8d-a046-a9fe276d0569-8901804.jpg 750w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/18\/04\/828x552_cmsv2_216d234d-ccfb-5d8d-a046-a9fe276d0569-8901804.jpg 828w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/18\/04\/1080x720_cmsv2_216d234d-ccfb-5d8d-a046-a9fe276d0569-8901804.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/18\/04\/1200x800_cmsv2_216d234d-ccfb-5d8d-a046-a9fe276d0569-8901804.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/18\/04\/1920x1281_cmsv2_216d234d-ccfb-5d8d-a046-a9fe276d0569-8901804.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 95vw, (max-width: 1024px) 80vw, (max-width: 1280px) 55vw, 728px\"\/>\n <figcaption class=\"widget__caption\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionWrap\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionText\">An opposition fighter poses for a photograph inside the 7th century Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024<\/span>\n <span class=\"widget__captionCredit\">AP\/Omar Sanadiki<\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2>Syrians 'shouldn't be forced to go back'<\/h2><p>\"Syria is not a secure country even if al-Assad is gone,\" says Daher.<\/p>\n<p>\"Syrian refugees should have the right to stay or to go back if they want. But they shouldn't be pushed,\" he explains.<\/p>\n<p>\"The situation in the country is very bad: 90% of the population lives in poverty. There's a massive destruction of infrastructure, lots of qualified manpower have left the country, and transport links are very bad.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"The agriculture sector has suffered a lot of destruction, and salaries are very low. And even if people do go back, we don't know if their houses have been destroyed or not,\" Dahed adds.<\/p>\n<p>\"Syria will still need international and humanitarian assistance for its development in the coming years. The next government shouldn't repeat the mistakes of the previous one by choosing a development that benefits only a small minority instead of the majority of Syrians.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"There is still a lot of uncertainty now, but also hope to rebuild\".<\/p>\n","hashtag":null,"createdAt":1733828019,"updatedAt":1734079882,"publishedAt":1734021809,"firstPublishedAt":1734021809,"lastPublishedAt":1734079448,"expiresAt":0,"images":[{"sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"captionCredit":"Euronews","altText":"Europe in Motion","callToActionText":null,"width":1920,"caption":"Europe in Motion","url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/18\/04\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_23687a5e-4cb1-554a-a484-b9b374c643f1-8901804.jpg","captionUrl":null,"height":1080},{"sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"captionCredit":null,"altText":null,"callToActionText":null,"width":1024,"caption":null,"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/18\/04\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_2eba7a43-6eca-5992-898b-e33647c753f0-8901804.jpg","captionUrl":null,"height":683},{"sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"captionCredit":null,"altText":null,"callToActionText":null,"width":1024,"caption":null,"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/18\/04\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_216d234d-ccfb-5d8d-a046-a9fe276d0569-8901804.jpg","captionUrl":null,"height":683}],"authors":{"journalists":[{"urlSafeValue":"dellanna","twitter":"alessiodellanna","id":1970,"title":"Alessio Dell'Anna"}],"producers":[],"videoEditor":[{"urlSafeValue":"yilmaz","twitter":null,"id":1516,"title":"Mert Can Yilmaz"}]},"keywords":[{"urlSafeValue":"syria","titleRaw":"Syria","id":8155,"title":"Syria","slug":"syria"},{"urlSafeValue":"migrants","titleRaw":"Migrants","id":13190,"title":"Migrants","slug":"migrants"},{"urlSafeValue":"europe","titleRaw":"Europe","id":9239,"title":"Europe","slug":"europe"},{"urlSafeValue":"deportation","titleRaw":"Deportation","id":12035,"title":"Deportation","slug":"deportation"},{"urlSafeValue":"demandeurs-d-asile","titleRaw":"asylum seekers","id":26564,"title":"asylum seekers","slug":"demandeurs-d-asile"},{"urlSafeValue":"tahrir-al-sham","titleRaw":"Hayat Tahrir al-Sham","id":30244,"title":"Hayat Tahrir al-Sham","slug":"tahrir-al-sham"}],"widgets":[{"count":2,"slug":"image"},{"count":1,"slug":"flourish"}],"related":[{"id":2700508},{"id":2699966},{"id":2699602}],"technicalTags":[],"externalPartners":{"dailymotionId":"x9ap27c"},"hasExternalVideo":1,"video":1,"videos":[{"duration":90000,"editor":"","filesizeBytes":10352949,"format":"mp4","type":"normal","url":"https:\/\/video.euronews.com\/mp4\/med\/EN\/EM\/SU\/24\/12\/12\/en\/241212_EMSU_57238933_57264289_90000_211209_en.mp4","expiresAt":0,"quality":"md"},{"duration":90000,"editor":"","filesizeBytes":15457589,"format":"mp4","type":"normal","url":"https:\/\/video.euronews.com\/mp4\/EN\/EM\/SU\/24\/12\/12\/en\/241212_EMSU_57238933_57264289_90000_211209_en.mp4","expiresAt":0,"quality":"hd"}],"liveStream":[{"endDate":0,"startDate":0}],"scribbleLiveId":0,"scribbleLiveRibbon":0,"isLiveCoverage":0,"sourceId":1,"sources":[],"externalSource":null,"additionalSources":"","additionalReporting":"Mert Can Yilmaz","freeField1":null,"freeField2":"","type":"normal","displayType":"default","program":{"id":"europe-in-motion","urlSafeValue":"europe-in-motion","title":"Europe in Motion","online":1,"url":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/my-europe\/my-europe-series\/europe-in-motion"},"vertical":"my-europe","verticals":[{"urlSafeValue":"my-europe","id":2,"title":"Europe","slug":"my-europe"}],"primaryVertical":{"id":2,"slug":"my-europe","urlSafeValue":"my-europe","title":"Europe"},"themes":[{"urlSafeValue":"my-europe-series","id":"my-europe-series","title":"My Europe Series","url":"\/my-europe\/my-europe-series"}],"primaryTheme":{"id":60,"urlSafeValue":"my-europe-series","title":"Europe Series"},"advertising":0,"advertisingData":{"startDate":0,"endDate":0,"type":null,"slug":null,"title":null,"disclaimerLabelKey":null,"sponsor":null,"sponsorName":null,"sponsorUrl":null,"sponsorLogo":"","sponsorLogoReverse":"","isDfp":0},"geoLocation":{"lat":0,"lon":0},"location":1,"continent":{"id":12,"urlSafeValue":"asia","title":"Asia"},"country":{"id":268,"urlSafeValue":"syria","title":"Syria","url":"\/news\/asia\/syria"},"town":[],"contextualSignals":{"doubleVerify":{"ids":[],"slugs":[]}},"grapeshot":null,"versions":[],"programDeliverable":{"slug":"sujet","format":"default"},"showOpinionDisclaimer":0,"allViews":0,"allViewsMeta":{"pointOfView":[],"survey":[],"tweetId":0,"tweet2NdId":0,"displayOverlay":0},"storyTranslationMethod":[],"localisation":[],"path":"\/my-europe\/2024\/12\/12\/after-assad-syrians-shouldnt-trust-the-hts-as-human-rights-remain-under-threat","lastModified":1734079448},{"id":2701154,"cid":8906316,"versionId":2,"archive":0,"housenumber":"241212_NWSU_57254808","owner":"euronews","isMagazine":0,"isBreakingNews":0,"daletEventName":"SYRIA SITUATION WRAP","channels":[{"id":1},{"id":2},{"id":4},{"id":5},{"id":10},{"id":12},{"id":14}],"status":2,"title":"Syria's new administration takes over country's main international airport","titleSeo":null,"titleListing1":"Syria's new administration takes over country's main airport","titleListing2":"Syria's new administration takes over country's main international airport","leadin":"Cleaning staff were removed broken furniture, glass windows, and trash from ransacking by looters following the demise of the al Assad regime. \nOfficials said the operations to clean up the airport aimed to encourage international airlines to resume their flights to Damascus.","summary":"Cleaning staff were removed broken furniture, glass windows, and trash from ransacking by looters following the demise of the al Assad regime. \nOfficials said the operations to clean up the airport aimed to encourage international airlines to resume their flights to Damascus.","keySentence":"","url":"syrias-new-administration-takes-over-countrys-main-international-airport","canonical":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2024\/12\/11\/syrias-new-administration-takes-over-countrys-main-international-airport","masterCms":"v2","plainText":"Syria's new administration has taken over the country's main international airport after security forces of the deposed Bashar al-Assad government and staff withdrew, grounding flights and stranding passengers.\u00a0\n\nThe airport has not been functional since.\u00a0 \u00a0\n\nNow, security members of the rebel alliance in control of Syria have taken over Damascus International Airport, hoping to restore security, a sense of confidence, and the legitimacy needed to restart flights out of the capital, and from one of the country\u2019s three international airports.\u00a0\n\n\"Damascus international airport is the heart of the city because it is the gateway for international delegations and missions,\u201d Omar al-Shami, a security official with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the faction that led the shock offensive that led to the fall of Assad, told press. \u00a0\n\n\u201cIt is the centre and most important (institution) in Damascus. It is the international crossing into Damascus, the passage for Syria to breathe.\u201d\u00a0\n\nElsewhere, life slowly began returning to normalcy in Damascus on Wednesday, with some shops reopening and people strolling through markets.\u00a0\n\nAt Bzouriyeh market, one of the famous spice and grain souks in the Syrian capital, shop owners and shoppers mingled among the colourful, old spice shops.\u00a0\n\n\"You can see that people's smiles are now different from the past. Thank God, Damascus and Syria as a whole have returned to what they used to be,\" said Bakri Bakdash, a spice trader who has worked in Bzouriyeh market for 45 years.\u00a0\n\nBanks and government institutions had also reopened. In public squares, some people were still celebrating\u00a0\n\nMeanwhile, thousands of displaced Syrians were returning home from neighbouring countries, as Syria's head of transitional cabinet Mohammed Al-Bashir called on those abroad to return.\u00a0\n\nThe Syrian government of al Assad fell early Sunday in a stunning end to the 50-year rule of the Assad family after a sudden rebel offensive sprinted across government-held territory and entered the capital in 10 days.\u00a0\n\nAn estimated 150,000 people have been detained or have gone missing in Syria since 2011 \u2014 under Assad\u2019s rule, any whiff of dissent could send someone immediately to prison.\u00a0\n\n","htmlText":"<p>Syria's new administration has taken over the country's main international airport after security forces of the deposed Bashar al-Assad government and staff withdrew, grounding flights and stranding passengers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The airport has not been functional since.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Now, security members of the rebel alliance in control of Syria have taken over Damascus International Airport, hoping to restore security, a sense of confidence, and the legitimacy needed to restart flights out of the capital, and from one of the country\u2019s three international airports.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\"Damascus international airport is the heart of the city because it is the gateway for international delegations and missions,\u201d Omar al-Shami, a security official with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the faction that led the shock offensive that led to the fall of Assad, told press. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is the centre and most important (institution) in Damascus. It is the international crossing into Damascus, the passage for Syria to breathe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, life slowly began returning to normalcy in Damascus on Wednesday, with some shops reopening and people strolling through markets.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At Bzouriyeh market, one of the famous spice and grain souks in the Syrian capital, shop owners and shoppers mingled among the colourful, old spice shops.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\"You can see that people's smiles are now different from the past. Thank God, Damascus and Syria as a whole have returned to what they used to be,\" said Bakri Bakdash, a spice trader who has worked in Bzouriyeh market for 45 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Banks and government institutions had also reopened. In public squares, some people were still celebrating\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, thousands of displaced Syrians were returning home from neighbouring countries, as Syria's head of transitional cabinet Mohammed Al-Bashir called on those abroad to return.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Syrian government of al Assad fell early Sunday in a stunning end to the 50-year rule of the Assad family after a sudden rebel offensive sprinted across government-held territory and entered the capital in 10 days.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>An estimated 150,000 people have been detained or have gone missing in Syria since 2011 \u2014 under Assad\u2019s rule, any whiff of dissent could send someone immediately to prison.\u00a0<\/p>\n","hashtag":null,"createdAt":1733949787,"updatedAt":1734005099,"publishedAt":1733951068,"firstPublishedAt":1733951068,"lastPublishedAt":1734005099,"expiresAt":0,"images":[{"sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"captionCredit":"Omar Albam\/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved.","altText":"A Syrian flag lies on the ground as opposition fighters stand on the tarmac of the Aleppo international airport, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024.","callToActionText":null,"width":1024,"caption":"A Syrian flag lies on the ground as opposition fighters stand on the tarmac of the Aleppo international airport, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024.","url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/88\/68\/34\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_f4cf0b44-2d4a-59d5-8c87-d21b13ecced0-8886834.jpg","captionUrl":null,"height":683}],"authors":{"journalists":[],"producers":[],"videoEditor":[]},"keywords":[{"urlSafeValue":"war-in-syria","titleRaw":"war in Syria","id":28396,"title":"war in Syria","slug":"war-in-syria"},{"urlSafeValue":"syrian-refugees","titleRaw":"Syrian Refugees","id":15936,"title":"Syrian Refugees","slug":"syrian-refugees"},{"urlSafeValue":"syrian-politics","titleRaw":"Syrian politics","id":10547,"title":"Syrian politics","slug":"syrian-politics"},{"urlSafeValue":"tahrir-al-sham","titleRaw":"Hayat Tahrir al-Sham","id":30244,"title":"Hayat Tahrir al-Sham","slug":"tahrir-al-sham"}],"widgets":[],"related":[{"id":2700752},{"id":2700784},{"id":2700508}],"technicalTags":[],"externalPartners":{"youtubeId":"F-eRJtJJFeA","dailymotionId":"x9ani0k"},"hasExternalVideo":1,"video":1,"videos":[{"duration":70960,"editor":"","filesizeBytes":9519339,"format":"mp4","type":"normal","url":"https:\/\/video.euronews.com\/mp4\/med\/EN\/NW\/SU\/24\/12\/12\/en\/241212_NWSU_57254808_57254835_70960_223301_en.mp4","expiresAt":0,"quality":"md"},{"duration":70960,"editor":"","filesizeBytes":14376171,"format":"mp4","type":"normal","url":"https:\/\/video.euronews.com\/mp4\/EN\/NW\/SU\/24\/12\/12\/en\/241212_NWSU_57254808_57254835_70960_223301_en.mp4","expiresAt":0,"quality":"hd"}],"liveStream":[{"endDate":0,"startDate":0}],"scribbleLiveId":0,"scribbleLiveRibbon":0,"isLiveCoverage":0,"sourceId":1,"sources":[],"externalSource":"AP","additionalSources":"","additionalReporting":"Euronews","freeField1":null,"freeField2":"","type":"normal","displayType":"default","program":{"id":"world","urlSafeValue":"world","title":"World 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chemical arms watchdog calls emergency meeting over Syria\u2019s chemical weapon stockpile","channels":[{"id":1},{"id":2},{"id":3},{"id":4},{"id":5},{"id":10},{"id":12},{"id":14}],"status":2,"title":"Global chemical weapons watchdog calls emergency meeting over Syrian stockpile ","titleSeo":null,"titleListing1":"Chemical weapons watchdog calls meeting over Syrian stockpile","titleListing2":"The OPCW convenes emergency meeting on Syria\u2019s chemical weapons stockpile after the collapse of the al-Assad regime.","leadin":"The US has pledged to support a new Syrian government that denounces terrorism and eliminates chemical weapons.","summary":"The US has pledged to support a new Syrian government that denounces terrorism and eliminates chemical weapons.","keySentence":"","url":"global-chemical-weapons-watchdog-calls-emergency-meeting-over-syrian-stockpile","canonical":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2024\/12\/11\/global-chemical-weapons-watchdog-calls-emergency-meeting-over-syrian-stockpile","masterCms":"v2","plainText":"The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday to address concerns surrounding the future of Syria\u2019s chemical weapons stockpile.\u00a0\n\nThis follows the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad\u2019s regime by rebel forces, who entered Damascus over the weekend in a lightning offensive that brought his decades of rule to an abrupt end.\u00a0\n\nOn Monday, the OPCW issued a reminder to the new authorities in Syria urging its compliance with international obligations to safeguard and destroy dangerous substances, including chlorine gas.\u00a0\n\nThe OPCW\u2019s executive council called the meeting to discuss the evolving situation in Syria and review ongoing investigations into the use of chemical weapons during the country\u2019s long-running civil war.\u00a0\n\nAl-Assad\u2019s regime consistently denied deploying chemical weapons, but the OPCW has found evidence of their repeated use.\u00a0\n\nIt was revealed earlier this year that the Islamic State group deployed mustard gas during a 2015 attack on the Syrian town of Marea.\u00a0\n\nThe ousted Syrian government has pledged to transfer power to a transitional cabinet led by Mohammed al-Bashir, who previously headed the rebel\u2019s alliance \u201csalvation government\u201d in southwest Syria.\u00a0\n\nAl-Bashir says the transitional period will extend until early March.\u00a0\n\nThe US has expressed its support for a new Syrian government that denounces terrorism, eliminates chemical weapon stockpiles, and protects the rights of minorities and women.\n\nUS State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller emphasised that the OPCW is responsible for inspections and verification efforts under its mandate.\u00a0\n\n\u201cWhen it comes to this question of inspections and verification, it is the responsibility of that organisation to conduct verification efforts under its mandate, not any of the member states or the United States or other states,\u201d he said.\u00a0\n\nMeanwhile, Israel has conducted over 350 airstrikes in Syria in the past 48 hours, targeting strategic weapons stockpiles.\u00a0\n\nThe Israeli military acknowledged advancing into a buffer zone inside Syria but denied moving towards Damascus.\u00a0\n\nOn Sunday, the Kremlin confirmed that President Vladimir Putin had granted political asylum to al-Assad.\n\n","htmlText":"<p>The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday to address concerns surrounding the future of Syria\u2019s chemical weapons stockpile.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This follows the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad\u2019s regime by rebel forces, who entered Damascus over the weekend in a lightning offensive that brought his decades of rule to an abrupt end.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, the OPCW issued a reminder to the new authorities in Syria urging its compliance with international obligations to safeguard and destroy dangerous substances, including chlorine gas.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The OPCW\u2019s executive council called the meeting to discuss the evolving situation in Syria and review ongoing investigations into the use of chemical weapons during the country\u2019s long-running civil war.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Al-Assad\u2019s regime consistently denied deploying chemical weapons, but the OPCW has found evidence of their repeated use.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It was revealed earlier this year that the Islamic State group deployed mustard gas during a 2015 attack on the Syrian town of Marea.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The ousted Syrian government has pledged to transfer power to a transitional cabinet led by Mohammed al-Bashir, who previously headed the rebel\u2019s alliance \u201csalvation government\u201d in southwest Syria.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Al-Bashir says the transitional period will extend until early March.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-widget-related\" data-stories-id=\"8903478\" data-event=\"widget_related\">\n <div class=\"c-widget-related__title\">\n <b class=\"c-widget-related__title__text\" lang=\"en\">Related<\/b>\n <\/div>\n <ul class=\"c-widget-related__list\">\n <li class=\"c-widget-related__item\"><a class=\"c-widget-related__article\" href=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////www.euronews.com//2024//12//10//syrias-departing-government-will-transfer-power-until-march-says-head-of-interim-cabinet/">Syria/u2019s interim government will stay in power until March, reports say<\/a><\/li>\n <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The US has expressed its support for a new Syrian government that denounces terrorism, eliminates chemical weapon stockpiles, and protects the rights of minorities and women.<\/p>\n<p>US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller emphasised that the OPCW is responsible for inspections and verification efforts under its mandate.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen it comes to this question of inspections and verification, it is the responsibility of that organisation to conduct verification efforts under its mandate, not any of the member states or the United States or other states,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Israel has conducted over 350 airstrikes in Syria in the past 48 hours, targeting strategic weapons stockpiles.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Israeli military acknowledged advancing into a buffer zone inside Syria but denied moving towards Damascus.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday, the Kremlin confirmed that President Vladimir Putin had granted political asylum to al-Assad.<\/p>\n","hashtag":null,"createdAt":1733923132,"updatedAt":1733927788,"publishedAt":1733926668,"firstPublishedAt":1733926668,"lastPublishedAt":1733926668,"expiresAt":0,"images":[{"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/49\/72\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_25654a14-7d1e-5e29-b9e1-88b25e7a6552-8904972.jpg","altText":"Syrian opposition fighters stand atop a seized Syrian Air Force fighter plane at the Hama military airport, Syria, Friday 6 Dec 2024.","caption":"Syrian opposition fighters stand atop a seized Syrian Air Force fighter plane at the Hama military airport, Syria, Friday 6 Dec 2024.","captionUrl":null,"captionCredit":"AP Photo\/Ghaith Alsayed","sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"callToActionText":null,"width":1920,"height":1080}],"authors":{"journalists":[],"producers":[],"videoEditor":[]},"keywords":[{"id":8155,"slug":"syria","urlSafeValue":"syria","title":"Syria","titleRaw":"Syria"},{"id":5728,"slug":"bashar-al-assad","urlSafeValue":"bashar-al-assad","title":"Bashar al-Assad","titleRaw":"Bashar al-Assad"},{"id":13806,"slug":"chemical-weapon","urlSafeValue":"chemical-weapon","title":"chemical weapon","titleRaw":"chemical weapon"}],"widgets":[{"slug":"related","count":1}],"related":[{"id":2700508},{"id":2699408},{"id":2698692}],"technicalTags":[],"externalPartners":[],"hasExternalVideo":0,"video":0,"videos":[],"liveStream":[{"startDate":0,"endDate":0}],"scribbleLiveId":0,"scribbleLiveRibbon":0,"isLiveCoverage":0,"sourceId":1,"sources":[],"externalSource":"AP","additionalSources":"","additionalReporting":"Oman Al Yahyai","freeField1":null,"freeField2":"","type":"normal","displayType":"default","program":{"id":"world","urlSafeValue":"world","title":"World News","online":1,"url":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/programs\/world"},"vertical":"news","verticals":[{"id":1,"slug":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"News"}],"primaryVertical":{"id":1,"slug":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"News"},"themes":[{"id":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"World","url":"\/news\/international"}],"primaryTheme":{"id":1,"urlSafeValue":"news","title":"World"},"advertising":0,"advertisingData":{"startDate":0,"endDate":0,"type":null,"slug":null,"title":null,"disclaimerLabelKey":null,"sponsor":null,"sponsorName":null,"sponsorUrl":null,"sponsorLogo":"","sponsorLogoReverse":"","isDfp":0},"geoLocation":{"lat":0,"lon":0},"location":1,"continent":{"id":12,"urlSafeValue":"asia","title":"Asia"},"country":{"id":268,"urlSafeValue":"syria","title":"Syria","url":"\/news\/asia\/syria"},"town":[],"contextualSignals":{"doubleVerify":{"ids":["80023001","80122009","80222009","84111001","84112005","84181001","84182008"],"slugs":["aggregated_all_moderate_content","human_made_disasters_high_and_medium_risk","human_made_disasters_high_medium_and_low_risk","law_gov_t_and_politics_legal_politics","law_government_and_politics","religion_and_spirituality","religion_and_spirituality_islam"]}},"grapeshot":null,"versions":[],"programDeliverable":{"slug":"sujet-web","format":"default"},"showOpinionDisclaimer":0,"allViews":0,"allViewsMeta":{"pointOfView":[],"survey":[],"tweetId":0,"tweet2NdId":0,"displayOverlay":0},"storyTranslationMethod":[],"localisation":[],"path":"\/2024\/12\/11\/global-chemical-weapons-watchdog-calls-emergency-meeting-over-syrian-stockpile","lastModified":1733926668},{"id":2700784,"cid":8905084,"versionId":2,"archive":0,"housenumber":"241211_NWSU_57251090","owner":"euronews","isMagazine":0,"isBreakingNews":0,"daletEventName":"ASSAD TOMB FIRE","channels":[{"id":1},{"id":2},{"id":3},{"id":4},{"id":5},{"id":10},{"id":12},{"id":14}],"status":2,"title":"Tomb of Bashar al-Assad's father set alight after Syrian rebel victory","titleSeo":null,"titleListing1":"Tomb of al-Assad's father set alight after Syrian rebel victory","titleListing2":"Tomb of Bashar al-Assad's father set alight after Syrian rebel victory","leadin":"Since five decades of brutal dynastic dictatorship came to an end on Sunday, statues of Hafez al-Assad and his son and successor Bashar have been toppled across Syria.","summary":"Since five decades of brutal dynastic dictatorship came to an end on Sunday, statues of Hafez al-Assad and his son and successor Bashar have been toppled across Syria.","keySentence":"","url":"tomb-of-bashar-al-assads-father-set-alight-after-syrian-rebel-victory","canonical":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2024\/12\/11\/tomb-of-bashar-al-assads-father-set-alight-after-syrian-rebel-victory","masterCms":"v2","plainText":"The tomb of the former Syrian dictator Hafez al-Assad has been set alight, according to numerous reports, just days after an uprising swept his son Bashar from power. \n\nImages taken from Qardaha, the ancestral village of the al-Assad family in the western province of Latakia, appear to show part of the mausoleum \u2014 and a coffin \u2014 on fire. \n\nThe presidential palace was looted on Sunday, while statues of the Assad family have been toppled across the country. \n\nThe dramatic scenes from Qardaha come three days after rebels led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) seized the capital, Damascus, following the withdrawal of the Syrian army and Bashar al-Assad's escape into exile. \n\nThe elder al-Assad ruled the country with an iron fist for three decades after taking power in a coup in 1970, remaining in power until he died from a heart attack in 2000. During his repressive rule, his forces routinely went after his political opponents. \n\nOn his death, he was succeeded by his son Bashar, who had previously worked as an ophthalmologist in London. \n\nIt was after Bashar al-Assad violently clamped down on protesters in 2011 that Syria was plunged into a 13-year civil war, in the course of which 500,000 people are thought to have been killed. Millions of Syrians have gone into exile. \n\nThe current al-Assad, who has enjoyed the backing and military support of both Russia and Iran, has controlled much of the country since his forces seized Aleppo, the country\u2019s second largest city, from the opposition in 2016.\n\nHis quick demise as dictator came as a shock after the lightning rebel offensive that began in north-west Syria in late November. Opposition fighters first took Aleppo, before seizing Hama and Homs on their journey down to Damascus. \n\nWith al-Assad gone, Syrians at home and abroad have been celebrating the end of his bloody regime. \n\nHowever, their joy has been laced with sadness, with many coming to terms with the fact that their relatives \u2014who disappeared during al-Assad\u2019s rule and who have not reappeared since his regime's infamously harsh prisons were liberated \u2014 might not be coming back.\n\nFree of the al-Assads at last, Syria faces a crucial test over the coming months. It is hoped that the country can avoid the fate of Iraq and Libya, which descended into chaos following the ousting of their respective dictators Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi. \n\nWestern leaders have rallied to congratulate Syria on its new-found freedom, while warning that its future remains uncertain. \n\nSome have concerns about HTS, the leading rebel group, which used to be an affiliate of Al-Qaeda. In an attempt to assuage them, its leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who has distanced himself from his group\u2019s origins, insists that his organisation will respect all Syrians, regardless of religion. \n\nOthers see the transition of power threatened by the actions of some of Syria\u2019s neighbours. \n\nIsrael announced on Tuesday that it had carried out more than 350 strikes in Syria in two days. It targeted navy facilities, military airfields and weapons depots. \n\nThe move was made \u201cin order to prevent terrorism in Syria from taking root,\u201d Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said. \n\nSpeaking in Berlin on Wednesday, the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock urged Israel \u2014 and Turkey, which also has strategic interests in Syria \u2014 not to interfere. \n\n\u201cNeighbours such as the Turkish and Israeli governments, which are asserting their security interests, must not jeopardise the process,\u201d she said. \n\nSyria\u2019s interim government, which will last until March next year, is being led by Mohammed al-Bashir, who assumed the role of caretaker prime minister earlier this week. \n\nAl-Bashir, a former leader in HTS-held Idlib province, has promised to restore security and stability in the country, bring back millions of refugees from abroad, and ensure essential services like electricity, water and food.\n\nIn his first interview with a western journalist, al-Bashir told the Italian paper Corriere Della Sera that the challenges facing Syria were immense. \n\n\u201cWe have no foreign reserves, and as for loans and bonds, we are still gathering the data. So yes, financially, we are in a very bad state,\u201d he said. \n\n\u201cThe debt is enormous, the challenge monumental,\u201d he added. \u201cIt will take time, but we will get there.\u201d\n\n","htmlText":"<p>The tomb of the former Syrian dictator Hafez al-Assad has been set alight, according to numerous reports, just days after an uprising swept his son Bashar from power. <\/p>\n<p>Images taken from Qardaha, the ancestral village of the al-Assad family in the western province of Latakia, appear to show part of the mausoleum \u2014 and a coffin \u2014 on fire. <\/p>\n<p>The presidential palace was looted on Sunday, while statues of the Assad family have been toppled across the country. <\/p>\n<p>The dramatic scenes from Qardaha come three days after rebels led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) seized the capital, Damascus, following the withdrawal of the Syrian army and Bashar al-Assad's escape into exile. <\/p>\n<p>The elder al-Assad ruled the country with an iron fist for three decades after taking power in a coup in 1970, remaining in power until he died from a heart attack in 2000. During his repressive rule, his forces routinely went after his political opponents. <\/p>\n<p>On his death, he was succeeded by his son Bashar, who had previously worked as an ophthalmologist in London. <\/p>\n<p>It was after Bashar al-Assad violently clamped down on protesters in 2011 that Syria was plunged into a 13-year civil war, in the course of which 500,000 people are thought to have been killed. Millions of Syrians have gone into exile. <\/p>\n<p>The current al-Assad, who has enjoyed the backing and military support of both Russia and Iran, has controlled much of the country since his forces seized Aleppo, the country\u2019s second largest city, from the opposition in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>His quick demise as dictator came as a shock after the lightning rebel offensive that began in north-west Syria in late November. Opposition fighters first took Aleppo, before seizing Hama and Homs on their journey down to Damascus. <\/p>\n<div class=\"c-widget-related\" data-stories-id=\"8904248,8903478\" data-event=\"widget_related\">\n <div class=\"c-widget-related__title\">\n <b class=\"c-widget-related__title__text\" lang=\"en\">Related<\/b>\n <\/div>\n <ul class=\"c-widget-related__list\">\n <li class=\"c-widget-related__item\"><a class=\"c-widget-related__article\" href=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////www.euronews.com//2024//12//10//syrias-departing-government-will-transfer-power-until-march-says-head-of-interim-cabinet/">Syria/u2019s interim government will stay in power until March, reports say<\/a><\/li><li class=\"c-widget-related__item\"><a class=\"c-widget-related__article\" href=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////www.euronews.com//2024//12//11//iran-blames-us-and-israel-for-bashar-al-assads-fall-from-power-in-syria/">Iran's supreme leader blames US and Israel for Bashar al-Assad\u2019s fall from power in Syria<\/a><\/li>\n <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>With al-Assad gone, Syrians at home and abroad have been celebrating the end of his bloody regime. <\/p>\n<p>However, their joy has been laced with sadness, with many coming to terms with the fact that their relatives \u2014who disappeared during al-Assad\u2019s rule and who have not reappeared since his regime's infamously harsh prisons were liberated \u2014 might not be coming back.<\/p>\n<p>Free of the al-Assads at last, Syria faces a crucial test over the coming months. It is hoped that the country can avoid the fate of Iraq and Libya, which descended into chaos following the ousting of their respective dictators Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi. <\/p>\n<p>Western leaders have rallied to congratulate Syria on its new-found freedom, while warning that its future remains uncertain. <\/p>\n<p>Some have concerns about HTS, the leading rebel group, which used to be an affiliate of Al-Qaeda. In an attempt to assuage them, its leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who has distanced himself from his group\u2019s origins, insists that his organisation will respect all Syrians, regardless of religion. <\/p>\n<p>Others see the transition of power threatened by the actions of some of Syria\u2019s neighbours. <\/p>\n<p>Israel announced on Tuesday that it had carried out more than 350 strikes in Syria in two days. It targeted navy facilities, military airfields and weapons depots. <\/p>\n<p>The move was made \u201cin order to prevent terrorism in Syria from taking root,\u201d Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said. <\/p>\n<p>Speaking in Berlin on Wednesday, the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock urged Israel \u2014 and Turkey, which also has strategic interests in Syria \u2014 not to interfere. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cNeighbours such as the Turkish and Israeli governments, which are asserting their security interests, must not jeopardise the process,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<p>Syria\u2019s interim government, which will last until March next year, is being led by Mohammed al-Bashir, who assumed the role of caretaker prime minister earlier this week. <\/p>\n<p>Al-Bashir, a former leader in HTS-held Idlib province, has promised to restore security and stability in the country, bring back millions of refugees from abroad, and ensure essential services like electricity, water and food.<\/p>\n<p>In his first interview with a western journalist, al-Bashir told the Italian paper Corriere Della Sera that the challenges facing Syria were immense. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have no foreign reserves, and as for loans and bonds, we are still gathering the data. So yes, financially, we are in a very bad state,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe debt is enormous, the challenge monumental,\u201d he added. \u201cIt will take time, but we will get there.\u201d<\/p>\n","hashtag":null,"createdAt":1733924528,"updatedAt":1734005134,"publishedAt":1733925570,"firstPublishedAt":1733925570,"lastPublishedAt":1734005134,"expiresAt":0,"images":[{"sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"captionCredit":"Hussein Malla\/Copyright 2023 The AP. All rights reserved.","altText":"An opposition fighter in military uniform stands next to a broken bust of the late Syrian President Hafez Assad in Damascus. ","callToActionText":null,"width":5689,"caption":"An opposition fighter in military uniform stands next to a broken bust of the late Syrian President Hafez Assad in Damascus. ","url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/50\/84\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_aa2436d2-0178-57e1-b5ab-beb0ae322f39-8905084.jpg","captionUrl":null,"height":3200}],"authors":{"journalists":[{"urlSafeValue":"sullivan","twitter":null,"id":3272,"title":"Rory Sullivan"}],"producers":[],"videoEditor":[]},"keywords":[{"urlSafeValue":"syria","titleRaw":"Syria","id":8155,"title":"Syria","slug":"syria"},{"urlSafeValue":"bashar-al-assad","titleRaw":"Bashar al-Assad","id":5728,"title":"Bashar al-Assad","slug":"bashar-al-assad"},{"urlSafeValue":"damascus","titleRaw":"Damascus","id":1802,"title":"Damascus","slug":"damascus"},{"urlSafeValue":"tahrir-al-sham","titleRaw":"Hayat Tahrir al-Sham","id":30244,"title":"Hayat Tahrir al-Sham","slug":"tahrir-al-sham"}],"widgets":[{"count":1,"slug":"related"}],"related":[{"id":2699798},{"id":2699408},{"id":2701154}],"technicalTags":[],"externalPartners":[],"hasExternalVideo":0,"video":0,"videos":[],"liveStream":[{"endDate":0,"startDate":0}],"scribbleLiveId":0,"scribbleLiveRibbon":0,"isLiveCoverage":0,"sourceId":1,"sources":[],"externalSource":null,"additionalSources":null,"additionalReporting":null,"freeField1":null,"freeField2":"","type":"normal","displayType":"default","program":{"id":"world","urlSafeValue":"world","title":"World 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MORNING UPDATE","channels":[{"id":1},{"id":2},{"id":4},{"id":5},{"id":10},{"id":12},{"id":14}],"status":2,"title":"Syria\u2019s interim government will stay in power until March, reports say","titleSeo":null,"titleListing1":"Syria\u2019s interim government will stay in power until March, reports say","titleListing2":"Syria\u2019s interim government will stay in power until March, reports say","leadin":"The departing government met with Mohammed al-Bashir for the first time since Assad fled Damascus over the weekend.","summary":"The departing government met with Mohammed al-Bashir for the first time since Assad fled Damascus over the weekend.","keySentence":"","url":"syrias-departing-government-will-transfer-power-until-march-says-head-of-interim-cabinet","canonical":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2024\/12\/10\/syrias-departing-government-will-transfer-power-until-march-says-head-of-interim-cabinet","masterCms":"v2","plainText":"Syria's new interim leader\u00a0Mohammed al-Bashir\u00a0announced on Tuesday he was taking charge of the country as caretaker prime minister until March 1 with the backing of the former rebels who toppled President Bashar al-Assad only days ago.\u00a0\n\nThe departing government met with al-Bashir for the first time on Tuesday since Assad fled Damascus over the weekend.\u00a0\n\nAl-Bashir told reporters after the meeting that the ministers discussed transferring the portfolios to the interim government during the transitional period until the beginning of March.\u00a0\n\nHe said that in the coming days the new government will decide on each ministry.\u00a0\n\nElsewhere in Syria, people continue to celebrate for a third day\u00a0 and shops and banks reopened despite Israeli airstrikes across the country. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\n\nThe Biden administration said Tuesday it will recognize and support a new Syrian government that renounces terrorism, destroys chemical weapons stocks and protects the rights of minorities and women. \u00a0\n\nTurkish president Recep Erdogan appeared to express optimism over new leadership in Syria, calling it a \u201cgreat transformation\u201d following the collapse of al-Assad's regime.\u00a0\n\n\u201cOur neighbour, Syria, has witnessed a great transformation in the last ten days. The oppressors have lost and been humiliated, while the oppressed have once again prevailed,\u201d he said.\u00a0\n\nIt comes as Syrian insurgents swept across the country in just 10 days to bring an end to the Assad family\u2019s 50-year rule.\u00a0\n\n","htmlText":"<p>Syria's new interim leader\u00a0Mohammed al-Bashir\u00a0announced on Tuesday he was taking charge of the country as caretaker prime minister until March 1 with the backing of the former rebels who toppled President Bashar al-Assad only days ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The departing government met with al-Bashir for the first time on Tuesday since Assad fled Damascus over the weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Al-Bashir told reporters after the meeting that the ministers discussed transferring the portfolios to the interim government during the transitional period until the beginning of March.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He said that in the coming days the new government will decide on each ministry.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere in Syria, people continue to celebrate for a third day\u00a0 and shops and banks reopened despite Israeli airstrikes across the country. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration said Tuesday it will recognize and support a new Syrian government that renounces terrorism, destroys chemical weapons stocks and protects the rights of minorities and women. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Turkish president Recep Erdogan appeared to express optimism over new leadership in Syria, calling it a \u201cgreat transformation\u201d following the collapse of al-Assad's regime.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur neighbour, Syria, has witnessed a great transformation in the last ten days. The oppressors have lost and been humiliated, while the oppressed have once again prevailed,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It comes as Syrian insurgents swept across the country in just 10 days to bring an end to the Assad family\u2019s 50-year rule.\u00a0<\/p>\n","hashtag":null,"createdAt":1733865712,"updatedAt":1733905171,"publishedAt":1733870714,"firstPublishedAt":1733870714,"lastPublishedAt":1733898867,"expiresAt":0,"images":[{"sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"captionCredit":"Hussein Malla\/Copyright 2024 The AP. All right reserved","altText":"Syrian citizens wave the revolutionary flag and shout slogans, as they celebrate during the second day of the take over of the city by the insurgents in Damascus, Syria, Monda","callToActionText":null,"width":1024,"caption":"Syrian citizens wave the revolutionary flag and shout slogans, as they celebrate during the second day of the take over of the city by the insurgents in Damascus, Syria, Monda","url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/06\/60\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_84ea2b3a-d0b9-5bba-95ea-0cc375137abd-8900660.jpg","captionUrl":null,"height":683}],"authors":{"journalists":[],"producers":[],"videoEditor":[]},"keywords":[{"urlSafeValue":"war-in-syria","titleRaw":"war in Syria","id":28396,"title":"war in Syria","slug":"war-in-syria"},{"urlSafeValue":"suriyeli-multeciler","titleRaw":"Syrian refugees","id":15206,"title":"Syrian refugees","slug":"suriyeli-multeciler"},{"urlSafeValue":"syria","titleRaw":"Syria","id":8155,"title":"Syria","slug":"syria"}],"widgets":[],"related":[{"id":2699966},{"id":2699408}],"technicalTags":[],"externalPartners":{"youtubeId":"ScWnKzUi1Wc","dailymotionId":"x9ale6c"},"hasExternalVideo":1,"video":1,"videos":[{"duration":60520,"editor":"","filesizeBytes":7992672,"format":"mp4","type":"normal","url":"https:\/\/video.euronews.com\/mp4\/med\/EN\/NW\/SU\/24\/12\/11\/en\/241211_NWSU_57244922_57245087_60520_001227_en.mp4","expiresAt":0,"quality":"md"},{"duration":60520,"editor":"","filesizeBytes":12111712,"format":"mp4","type":"normal","url":"https:\/\/video.euronews.com\/mp4\/EN\/NW\/SU\/24\/12\/11\/en\/241211_NWSU_57244922_57245087_60520_001227_en.mp4","expiresAt":0,"quality":"hd"}],"liveStream":[{"endDate":0,"startDate":0}],"scribbleLiveId":0,"scribbleLiveRibbon":0,"isLiveCoverage":0,"sourceId":1,"sources":[],"externalSource":"AP","additionalSources":"","additionalReporting":"Euronews","freeField1":null,"freeField2":"","type":"normal","displayType":"default","program":{"id":"world","urlSafeValue":"world","title":"World News","online":1,"url":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/programs\/world"},"vertical":"news","verticals":[{"urlSafeValue":"news","id":1,"title":"News","slug":"news"}],"primaryVertical":{"id":1,"slug":"news","urlSafeValue":"news","title":"News"},"themes":[{"urlSafeValue":"news","id":"news","title":"World","url":"\/news\/international"}],"primaryTheme":{"id":1,"urlSafeValue":"news","title":"World"},"advertising":0,"advertisingData":{"startDate":0,"endDate":0,"type":null,"slug":null,"title":null,"disclaimerLabelKey":null,"sponsor":null,"sponsorName":null,"sponsorUrl":null,"sponsorLogo":"","sponsorLogoReverse":"","isDfp":0},"geoLocation":{"lat":0,"lon":0},"location":1,"continent":{"id":12,"urlSafeValue":"asia","title":"Asia"},"country":{"id":268,"urlSafeValue":"syria","title":"Syria","url":"\/news\/asia\/syria"},"town":[],"contextualSignals":{"doubleVerify":{"ids":["80023001","80122009","84061001","84062001","84111001","84112005"],"slugs":["aggregated_all_moderate_content","family_and_parenting","family_and_parenting_general","human_made_disasters_high_medium_and_low_risk","law_gov_t_and_politics_legal_politics","law_government_and_politics"]}},"grapeshot":null,"versions":[],"programDeliverable":{"slug":"sujet","format":"default"},"showOpinionDisclaimer":0,"allViews":0,"allViewsMeta":{"pointOfView":[],"survey":[],"tweetId":0,"tweet2NdId":0,"displayOverlay":0},"storyTranslationMethod":[],"localisation":[],"path":"\/2024\/12\/10\/syrias-departing-government-will-transfer-power-until-march-says-head-of-interim-cabinet","lastModified":1733898867},{"id":2699408,"cid":8900936,"versionId":5,"archive":0,"housenumber":"241210_NWSU_57236898","owner":"euronews","isMagazine":0,"isBreakingNews":0,"daletEventName":"HU WEB Syria update Israeli airstrikes","channels":[{"id":1},{"id":2},{"id":3},{"id":4},{"id":5},{"id":10},{"id":12},{"id":14}],"status":2,"title":"Israel strikes Syrian military sites while troops move into Golan Heights buffer zone","titleSeo":null,"titleListing1":"Israel strikes Syrian military sites and seizes border buffer zone","titleListing2":"Israeli warplanes have struck Syrian military sites and destroyed Syria's naval fleet while troops move into Golan Heights buffer zone. ","leadin":"Israel has said its strikes aim to prevent military equipment from falling into the hands of extremists, while it denies its troops are advancing towards Damascus.","summary":"Israel has said its strikes aim to prevent military equipment from falling into the hands of extremists, while it denies its troops are advancing towards Damascus.","keySentence":"","url":"israeli-forces-launch-more-than-100-airstrikes-in-syria-reports-say","canonical":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2024\/12\/10\/israeli-forces-launch-more-than-100-airstrikes-in-syria-reports-say","masterCms":"v2","plainText":"Israeli warplanes have conducted a number of air strikes in different part of Syria where military sites are located, while ground troops have seized a border buffer zone in the Golan Heights. Meanwhile, the Israeli defence minister has said that Syria's naval fleet was destroyed overnight on Monday.\n\nIn the immediate aftermath of the fall of the al-Assad government over the weekend, Israeli forces moved into the roughly 400-square-kilometre buffer zone inside Syria that had been established after the 1973 Mideast war, a move it said was taken to prevent attacks on its citizens.\n\nThe Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has closely tracked the conflict since the civil war began in 2011, and Beirut-based Mayadeen TV, which has reporters in Syria, said Israeli troops are advancing up the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon and had come within 25 kilometres of Damascus, a claim which has been denied.\n\nNadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesperson, said \u201cthe reports circulating in the media about the alleged advancement of Israeli tanks towards Damascus are false.\u201d He said Israeli troops are stationed within the buffer zone in order to protect Israel.\n\nIsraeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel intended to establish a demilitarised zone in southern Syria.\n\nGolan Heights part of Israel 'for eternity'\n\nSpeaking at a press conference in Jerusalem in Monday, Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu has said the occupied territory of Golan Heights in Syria will remain part of Israel \"for eternity\".\n\nIsrael has a long history of seizing territory during wars with its neighbours and occupying it indefinitely, citing security concerns. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it in 1981 in a move not recognised by the international community with the exception of the United States.\n\nEgypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have condemned Israel\u2019s incursion into the Golan Heights, accusing it of exploiting the instability within Syria and violating international law.\n\nTurkey, which has been a main backer of the Syrian opposition to Assad, was also critical. The Turkish Foreign Ministry accused Israel of\u201cdisplaying a mentality of an occupier\u201d at a time when the possibility of peace and stability had emerged in Syria.\n\nUN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Monday said Israel's incursion constitutes a violation of the 1974 disengagement agreement and called on both Israel and Syria to uphold it.\n\nHeavy air strikes across Syria on military sites and the navy\n\nIsrael has also said its warplanes are striking suspected chemical weapons sites and heavy weapons to prevent them from falling into the hands of extremists.\n\n Additionally, Defence Minister Katz said that Israel's navy \"operated last night to destroy the Syrian fleet and with great success.\"\n\nThe Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Israel has carried out more than 300 airstrikes across the country since the rebels overthrew Assad.\n\nIsraeli media, meanwhile, reported that the air force was methodically destroying Syria's military assets to ensure whoever rules the country next would have to rebuild them.\n\nThe operations \u201chave been systematically destroying all that remains of the escaped tyrant\u2019s military,\u201d wrote Yossi Yehoshua, the military correspondent for Israel's largest daily, Yediot Ahronot.\n\n\u201cDozens upon dozens of targets, including arms depots of various kinds, have been hit in waves of attacks so as to prevent them from falling into hostile hands and from posing a threat to Israel.\" The air force \u201ccurrently enjoys complete freedom of action,\u201d he added.\n\n","htmlText":"<p>Israeli warplanes have conducted a number of air strikes in different part of Syria where military sites are located, while ground troops have seized a border buffer zone in the Golan Heights. Meanwhile, the Israeli defence minister has said that Syria's naval fleet was destroyed overnight on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>In the immediate aftermath of the fall of the al-Assad government over the weekend, Israeli forces moved into the roughly 400-square-kilometre buffer zone inside Syria that had been established after the 1973 Mideast war, a move it said was taken to prevent attacks on its citizens.<\/p>\n<p>The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has closely tracked the conflict since the civil war began in 2011, and Beirut-based Mayadeen TV, which has reporters in Syria, said Israeli troops are advancing up the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon and had come within 25 kilometres of Damascus, a claim which has been denied.<\/p>\n<p>Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesperson, said \u201cthe reports circulating in the media about the alleged advancement of Israeli tanks towards Damascus are false.\u201d He said Israeli troops are stationed within the buffer zone in order to protect Israel.<\/p>\n<p>Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel intended to establish a demilitarised zone in southern Syria.<\/p>\n<h2>Golan Heights part of Israel 'for eternity'<\/h2><p>Speaking at a press conference in Jerusalem in Monday, Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu has said the occupied territory of Golan Heights in Syria will remain part of Israel \"for eternity\".<\/p>\n<p>Israel has a long history of seizing territory during wars with its neighbours and occupying it indefinitely, citing security concerns. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it in 1981 in a move not recognised by the international community with the exception of the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have condemned Israel\u2019s incursion into the Golan Heights, accusing it of exploiting the instability within Syria and violating international law.<\/p>\n<p>Turkey, which has been a main backer of the Syrian opposition to Assad, was also critical. The Turkish Foreign Ministry accused Israel of\u201cdisplaying a mentality of an occupier\u201d at a time when the possibility of peace and stability had emerged in Syria.<\/p>\n<p>UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Monday said Israel's incursion constitutes a violation of the 1974 disengagement agreement and called on both Israel and Syria to uphold it.<\/p>\n<h2>Heavy air strikes across Syria on military sites and the navy<\/h2><p>Israel has also said its warplanes are striking suspected chemical weapons sites and heavy weapons to prevent them from falling into the hands of extremists.<\/p>\n<p> Additionally, Defence Minister Katz said that Israel's navy \"operated last night to destroy the Syrian fleet and with great success.\"<\/p>\n<p>The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Israel has carried out more than 300 airstrikes across the country since the rebels overthrew Assad.<\/p>\n<p>Israeli media, meanwhile, reported that the air force was methodically destroying Syria's military assets to ensure whoever rules the country next would have to rebuild them.<\/p>\n<p>The operations \u201chave been systematically destroying all that remains of the escaped tyrant\u2019s military,\u201d wrote Yossi Yehoshua, the military correspondent for Israel's largest daily, Yediot Ahronot.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDozens upon dozens of targets, including arms depots of various kinds, have been hit in waves of attacks so as to prevent them from falling into hostile hands and from posing a threat to Israel.\" The air force \u201ccurrently enjoys complete freedom of action,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","hashtag":null,"createdAt":1733812747,"updatedAt":1733855406,"publishedAt":1733850130,"firstPublishedAt":1733814130,"lastPublishedAt":1733855038,"expiresAt":0,"images":[{"sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"captionCredit":"Hussein Malla\/Copyright 2024 The AP. All right reserved","altText":"Syrian citizens stand on a government forces tank, that was left on a street, as they are celebrating during the second day of the take over of the city by the insurgents.","callToActionText":null,"width":1600,"caption":"Syrian citizens stand on a government forces tank, that was left on a street, as they are celebrating during the second day of the take over of the city by the insurgents.","url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/09\/36\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_d5dae6fc-0dee-5bbf-a498-cf668ac4ce31-8900936.jpg","captionUrl":null,"height":900}],"authors":{"journalists":[{"urlSafeValue":"armstrong-r","twitter":null,"id":2726,"title":"Rory Elliott Armstrong"}],"producers":[],"videoEditor":[]},"keywords":[{"urlSafeValue":"conflict-in-syria","titleRaw":"Conflict in Syria","id":11644,"title":"Conflict in Syria","slug":"conflict-in-syria"},{"urlSafeValue":"strikes","titleRaw":"strikes","id":14550,"title":"strikes","slug":"strikes"},{"urlSafeValue":"israel-defense-forces-idf","titleRaw":"israel defense forces IDF","id":15434,"title":"israel defense forces 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SYRIA GIANT STATUE TOPPLED","channels":[{"id":1},{"id":2},{"id":3},{"id":4},{"id":5},{"id":10},{"id":12},{"id":14}],"status":2,"title":"Syrians topple Hafez al-Assad statue in Dayr Atiyah","titleSeo":null,"titleListing1":"Syrians topple Hafez al-Assad statue in Dayr Atiyah","titleListing2":"Syrians topple Hafez al-Assad statue in Dayr Atiyah","leadin":"On December 9, a giant statue of former Syrian president Hafez al-Assad was toppled in Dayr Atiyah, as Syrians took to the streets to celebrate the fall of Assad rule by bringing down several other statues.","summary":"On December 9, a giant statue of former Syrian president Hafez al-Assad was toppled in Dayr Atiyah, as Syrians took to the streets to celebrate the fall of Assad rule by bringing down several other statues.","keySentence":"","url":"syrians-topple-hafez-al-assad-statue-in-dayr-atiyah","canonical":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2024\/12\/10\/syrians-topple-hafez-al-assad-statue-in-dayr-atiyah","masterCms":"v2","plainText":"","htmlText":"","hashtag":null,"createdAt":1733825220,"updatedAt":1733834164,"publishedAt":1733833793,"firstPublishedAt":1733833793,"lastPublishedAt":1733833793,"expiresAt":0,"images":[{"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/16\/20\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_b4495331-4e89-55c9-af0b-5b0be96743c6-8901620.jpg","altText":"Destruction of a giant statue of former Syrian president Hafez al-Assad, father of Bashar al-Assad, Dayr Atiyah, in Syria on 09.12.2024","caption":"Destruction of a giant statue of former Syrian president Hafez al-Assad, father of Bashar al-Assad, Dayr Atiyah, in Syria on 09.12.2024","captionUrl":null,"captionCredit":"Capture d'\u00e9cran d'une vid\u00e9o EBU","sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"callToActionText":null,"width":1920,"height":1080}],"authors":{"journalists":[{"id":2134,"urlSafeValue":"mauduit","title":"Frederique Mauduit","twitter":null}],"producers":[],"videoEditor":[{"id":2134,"urlSafeValue":"mauduit","title":"Frederique Mauduit","twitter":null}]},"keywords":[{"id":5728,"slug":"bashar-al-assad","urlSafeValue":"bashar-al-assad","title":"Bashar al-Assad","titleRaw":"Bashar al-Assad"},{"id":8155,"slug":"syria","urlSafeValue":"syria","title":"Syria","titleRaw":"Syria"},{"id":11644,"slug":"conflict-in-syria","urlSafeValue":"conflict-in-syria","title":"Conflict in Syria","titleRaw":"Conflict in 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EURONEWS","freeField1":null,"freeField2":"","type":"normal","displayType":"default","program":{"id":"nocomment","urlSafeValue":"nocomment","title":"No 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SYRIA EUROPE","channels":[{"id":1},{"id":2},{"id":3},{"id":4},{"id":5},{"id":10},{"id":12},{"id":14}],"status":2,"title":"Europe cannot yet afford to celebrate post-al-Assad Syria","titleSeo":null,"titleListing1":"Europe cannot yet afford to celebrate post-al-Assad Syria","titleListing2":"Opinion | For Europe, the risks of inaction and complacency far outweigh any fleeting sense of relief at al-Assad\u2019s demise, Shlomo Roiter Jesner writes.","leadin":"For Europe, the risks of inaction and complacency far outweigh any fleeting sense of relief at al-Assad\u2019s demise, Shlomo Roiter Jesner writes.","summary":"For Europe, the risks of inaction and complacency far outweigh any fleeting sense of relief at al-Assad\u2019s demise, Shlomo Roiter Jesner writes.","keySentence":"","url":"europe-cannot-yet-afford-to-celebrate-post-al-assad-syria","canonical":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2024\/12\/10\/europe-cannot-yet-afford-to-celebrate-post-al-assad-syria","masterCms":"v2","plainText":"The sudden, and for most, unexpected collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime has left Syria, already teetering from almost 13 years of civil war, at yet another crossroads, with implications for Europe that cannot be ignored. \n\nMany in Europe have chosen to focus on the defeat, which this moment has proven to be for al-Assad\u2019s backers in the \u201caxis of resistance\u201d \u2014 Russia and Iran \u2014 highlighting a long-awaited opportunity for progress. \n\nEU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas described al-Assad\u2019s downfall as \"a positive and long-awaited development,\" while European Parliament President Roberta Metsola highlighted that \"what happens in the next hours and days matters\".\n\nWith such statements coming out of Brussels reflecting European optimism, reactions that are too focused on the immediate outcome risk overshadowing the significant dangers now confronting Syria, its neighbours and Europe. \n\nAl-Jolani: Reformed or just rebranded again? \n\nHayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which led the advance alongside additional Islamist factions, are currently moving to consolidate power, understanding that time is of the essence in establishing the facts on the ground that will define the rule of Syria for perhaps generations to come. \n\nThe spectre of yet another failed state in the region should, however, be top of everyone\u2019s minds. Although HTS has actively sought to cautiously navigate away from its origins as an al-Qaeda affiliate, the faction under the leadership of Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who has since shed his Islamist nom-de-guerre in favour of his birth name, Ahmed al-Sharaa, remains a proscribed terrorist group in much of the world, including Europe, although the UK government, in light of developments in Syria, announced a decision to reassess this status. \n\nHTS\u2019 and al-Jolani's direct links to the so-called IS should not be forgotten, with al-Jolani founding the IS-affiliated al-Nusra Front on direct orders of the late IS arch-terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. \n\nAl-Jolani would later pledge allegiance to and, subsequently, sever ties with al-Qaeda, rebranding the group as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham and later as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in 2017, all in an attempt to position HTS as a dominant and politically viable force in Syria.\n\nIts ascent to power through both IS and al-Qaeda and its rebranding notwithstanding, the history of HTS should raise serious concerns in Europe regarding its capacity for governance, interest in protecting human rights, and appropriateness for providing Syria with much-needed domestic and broader regional stability. \n\nFurthermore, although the fall of al-Assad has been depicted as the product of Syrian opposition, it is in actuality the product of a severely fractured opposition at best, composed of HTS in Damascus, Kurdish-led forces in the east and Turkish-backed factions in the north. \n\nSuggesting that Syria might, for the foreseeable future, face a protracted period of internal strife would be an understatement. \n\nTo understand the risks, one need look no further than Syria\u2019s neighbour to the West, Lebanon, where fragmentation has entrenched sectarian divisions and perpetuated dysfunction for over a decade. \n\nFor Europe, the prospect of a splintered Syria dominated by militant factions takes the risk a step further, with the potential for an Iraqi model of ungoverned spaces that could serve as havens for extremism being a very realistic one. \n\nEnter Erdo\u011fan\n\nRecent actions by Jerusalem, where the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) immediately seized control of a demilitarised buffer zone in the Golan Heights, underscore the magnitude of the risks stemming from the ongoing Islamist takeover. \n\nFollowing the collapse of the al-Assad regime, Netanyahu declared that the 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria had \"collapsed,\" leading the IDF to also reinforce the Israeli side of the territory while deploying its air force to pre-emptively strike strategic weapons stockpiles deep inside the neighbouring country. \n\nAbu Mohammed al-Jolani's familial roots in the Golan Heights further complicate matters, broadening the dangers posed by the still-developing power vacuum stemming from the militant factions now vying for control of Syria. \n\nStrikes yesterday saw the IDF functionally decimating both the air force and Syria\u2019s air defences, in their entirety, with such a drastic, pre-emptive strike not having taken place in the region since the 1967 Six-Day War. \n\nCompounding the risks is Turkey\u2019s expanding Islamist agenda under President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan, which has seen Ankara supporting HTS and providing the green light for the offensive, culminating in the fall of the al-Assad regime. \n\nAlthough Erdo\u011fan has refrained from supporting HTS or its radical agenda publicly, the offensive would have been impossible without Turkish military training, technical knowledge and logistical support. \n\nAlthough Erdo\u011fan's government\u2019s primary interest has been to target the Kurdish military stationed in an autonomous enclave in northern Syria just across the Turkish border, seeing Moscow and Tehran \u2014 its other primary strategic nemeses in the region \u2014 losing a foothold is certainly a welcome development. \n\nAnd while reports have surfaced that Turkish actions have been coordinated with Israel, with whom it shares a mutual interest in ridding the region of Russian and Iranian assets, an empowered Erdo\u011fan, who has increasingly worked to export his vision of political Islam abroad, is certainly not in Europe\u2019s best interest. \n\nErdo\u011fan's rhetoric, which has included likening modern struggles against Western interest to historic battles against the \u201cCrusader world\u201d, highlights the ideological zeal driving his policies. \n\nAlthough perhaps secretly coordinating with Israel at this particular inflexion point, Erdo\u011fan's past calls for an alliance of Islamic countries against perceived threats from Israel further underscores his agenda\u2019s regional and international implications. \n\nFor Europe, this means grappling not just with the immediate fallout of Syria\u2019s instability but also with the broader ripple effects of Erdo\u011fan's ideological expansion.\n\nHow to make this ray of hope last?\n\nDespite reports of Syrians, who are returning to Syria in droves in the euphoria of the moment, any renewed wave of instability in the Middle Eastern country would certainly lead to another surge of refugees seeking safety on the shores of Europe. \n\nThat, coupled with an empowered Turkey that would likely, as it has in the past, leverage refugees as a bargaining chip in its own dealings with the European Union, would not be a welcome scenario in Brussels. \n\nWith a Trump administration expected to withdraw what remains of a US presence in Syria, particularly in the Kurdish autonomous region, Erdo\u011fan would have a free hand to pursue his ambitions, including crushing Kurdish autonomy once and for all while entrenching, for the long-term, Turkish influence in northern Syria.\n\nThe much-welcomed fall of al-Assad does mark the end of a very brutal era, providing Syrians with a long-awaited ray of hope. \n\nHowever, it should not be seen as the end of Syria\u2019s troubles or even an automatic new beginning, although it is a chance at one. \n\nFor Europe, the risks of inaction and complacency far outweigh any fleeting sense of relief at al-Assad\u2019s demise. The broader implications \u2014 from regional instability to ideological exportation \u2014 should make Syria\u2019s future an immediate matter of concern.\n\nShlomo Roiter Jesner is the president and co-founder of the Cambridge Middle East and North Africa Forum. He is also the CEO of London-based F&R Strategy Group, a geopolitical consultancy at the intersection of politics and business.\n\n","htmlText":"<p>The sudden, and for most, unexpected collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime has left Syria, already teetering from almost 13 years of civil war, at yet another crossroads, with implications for Europe that cannot be ignored. <\/p>\n<p>Many in Europe have chosen to focus on the defeat, which this moment has proven to be for al-Assad\u2019s backers in the \u201caxis of resistance\u201d \u2014 Russia and Iran \u2014 highlighting a long-awaited opportunity for progress. <\/p>\n<p>EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas described al-Assad\u2019s downfall as \"a positive and long-awaited development,\" while European Parliament President Roberta Metsola highlighted that \"what happens in the next hours and days matters\".<\/p>\n<p>With such statements coming out of Brussels reflecting European optimism, reactions that are too focused on the immediate outcome risk overshadowing the significant dangers now confronting Syria, its neighbours and Europe. <\/p>\n<h2>Al-Jolani: Reformed or just rebranded again?<\/h2><p>Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which led the advance alongside additional Islamist factions, are currently moving to consolidate power, understanding that time is of the essence in establishing the facts on the ground that will define the rule of Syria for perhaps generations to come. <\/p>\n<p>The spectre of yet another failed state in the region should, however, be top of everyone\u2019s minds. Although HTS has actively sought to cautiously navigate away from its origins as an al-Qaeda affiliate, the faction under the leadership of Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who has since shed his Islamist nom-de-guerre in favour of his birth name, Ahmed al-Sharaa, remains a proscribed terrorist group in much of the world, including Europe, although the UK government, in light of developments in Syria, announced a decision to reassess this status. <\/p>\n<p>HTS\u2019 and al-Jolani's direct links to the so-called IS should not be forgotten, with al-Jolani founding the IS-affiliated al-Nusra Front on direct orders of the late IS arch-terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. <\/p>\n<div class=\"widget widget--type-quotation\n widget--size-fullwidth\n widget--align-center\">\n <div class=\"widget__wrapper\">\n <div class=\"widget__content\">\n <blockquote class=\"widget__quote\">\n <span class=\"widget__quoteText\">For Europe, the prospect of a splintered Syria dominated by militant factions takes the risk a step further, with the potential for an Iraqi model of ungoverned spaces that could serve as havens for extremism being a very realistic one. <\/span>\n <\/blockquote>\n <cite class=\"widget__author\">\n <\/cite>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"widget widget--type-image widget--size-fullwidth widget--animation-fade-in widget--align-center\" data-ratio=\"0.6669921875\">\n <div class=\"widget__wrapper\">\n <div class=\"widget__ratio widget__ratio--auto\">\n <div class=\"widget__contents\">\n <figure class=\"widget__figure\">\n <img class=\"widgetImage__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////static.euronews.com//articles//stories//08//89//66//20//808x539_cmsv2_df4cc4a7-0636-5691-bfc8-20996b6c6b92-8896620.jpg/" alt=\"Fighters celebrate in the aftermath of the opposition's takeover of the city in downtown Hama, 6 December 2024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/89\/66\/20\/384x256_cmsv2_df4cc4a7-0636-5691-bfc8-20996b6c6b92-8896620.jpg 384w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/89\/66\/20\/640x427_cmsv2_df4cc4a7-0636-5691-bfc8-20996b6c6b92-8896620.jpg 640w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/89\/66\/20\/750x500_cmsv2_df4cc4a7-0636-5691-bfc8-20996b6c6b92-8896620.jpg 750w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/89\/66\/20\/828x552_cmsv2_df4cc4a7-0636-5691-bfc8-20996b6c6b92-8896620.jpg 828w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/89\/66\/20\/1080x720_cmsv2_df4cc4a7-0636-5691-bfc8-20996b6c6b92-8896620.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/89\/66\/20\/1200x800_cmsv2_df4cc4a7-0636-5691-bfc8-20996b6c6b92-8896620.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/89\/66\/20\/1920x1281_cmsv2_df4cc4a7-0636-5691-bfc8-20996b6c6b92-8896620.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 95vw, (max-width: 1024px) 80vw, (max-width: 1280px) 55vw, 728px\"\/>\n <figcaption class=\"widget__caption\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionWrap\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionText\">Fighters celebrate in the aftermath of the opposition's takeover of the city in downtown Hama, 6 December 2024<\/span>\n <span class=\"widget__captionCredit\">AP Photo\/Omar Albam<\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Al-Jolani would later pledge allegiance to and, subsequently, sever ties with al-Qaeda, rebranding the group as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham and later as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in 2017, all in an attempt to position HTS as a dominant and politically viable force in Syria.<\/p>\n<p>Its ascent to power through both IS and al-Qaeda and its rebranding notwithstanding, the history of HTS should raise serious concerns in Europe regarding its capacity for governance, interest in protecting human rights, and appropriateness for providing Syria with much-needed domestic and broader regional stability. <\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, although the fall of al-Assad has been depicted as the product of Syrian opposition, it is in actuality the product of a severely fractured opposition at best, composed of HTS in Damascus, Kurdish-led forces in the east and Turkish-backed factions in the north. <\/p>\n<p>Suggesting that Syria might, for the foreseeable future, face a protracted period of internal strife would be an understatement. <\/p>\n<p>To understand the risks, one need look no further than Syria\u2019s neighbour to the West, Lebanon, where fragmentation has entrenched sectarian divisions and perpetuated dysfunction for over a decade. <\/p>\n<p>For Europe, the prospect of a splintered Syria dominated by militant factions takes the risk a step further, with the potential for an Iraqi model of ungoverned spaces that could serve as havens for extremism being a very realistic one. <\/p>\n<h2>Enter Erdo\u011fan<\/h2><p>Recent actions by Jerusalem, where the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) immediately seized control of a demilitarised buffer zone in the Golan Heights, underscore the magnitude of the risks stemming from the ongoing Islamist takeover. <\/p>\n<p>Following the collapse of the al-Assad regime, Netanyahu declared that the 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria had \"collapsed,\" leading the IDF to also reinforce the Israeli side of the territory while deploying its air force to pre-emptively strike strategic weapons stockpiles deep inside the neighbouring country. <\/p>\n<p>Abu Mohammed al-Jolani's familial roots in the Golan Heights further complicate matters, broadening the dangers posed by the still-developing power vacuum stemming from the militant factions now vying for control of Syria. <\/p>\n<p>Strikes yesterday saw the IDF functionally decimating both the air force and Syria\u2019s air defences, in their entirety, with such a drastic, pre-emptive strike not having taken place in the region since the 1967 Six-Day War. <\/p>\n<div class=\"widget widget--type-quotation\n widget--size-fullwidth\n widget--align-center\">\n <div class=\"widget__wrapper\">\n <div class=\"widget__content\">\n <blockquote class=\"widget__quote\">\n <span class=\"widget__quoteText\">An empowered Erdo\u011fan, who has increasingly worked to export his vision of political Islam abroad, is certainly not in Europe\u2019s best interest. <\/span>\n <\/blockquote>\n <cite class=\"widget__author\">\n <\/cite>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"widget widget--type-image widget--size-fullwidth widget--animation-fade-in widget--align-center\" data-ratio=\"0.6669921875\">\n <div class=\"widget__wrapper\">\n <div class=\"widget__ratio widget__ratio--auto\">\n <div class=\"widget__contents\">\n <figure class=\"widget__figure\">\n <img class=\"widgetImage__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.euronews.com/"https:////static.euronews.com//articles//stories//08//90//15//26//808x539_cmsv2_da5a2c9c-0ca6-564a-a354-59e016650e82-8901526.jpg/" alt=\"A broken bust of the former Syrian leader Hafez al-Assad, father of Bashar al-Assad, lies on the ground destroyed by opposition fighters in Aleppo, 30 November 2024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/15\/26\/384x256_cmsv2_da5a2c9c-0ca6-564a-a354-59e016650e82-8901526.jpg 384w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/15\/26\/640x427_cmsv2_da5a2c9c-0ca6-564a-a354-59e016650e82-8901526.jpg 640w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/15\/26\/750x500_cmsv2_da5a2c9c-0ca6-564a-a354-59e016650e82-8901526.jpg 750w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/15\/26\/828x552_cmsv2_da5a2c9c-0ca6-564a-a354-59e016650e82-8901526.jpg 828w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/15\/26\/1080x720_cmsv2_da5a2c9c-0ca6-564a-a354-59e016650e82-8901526.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/15\/26\/1200x800_cmsv2_da5a2c9c-0ca6-564a-a354-59e016650e82-8901526.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/15\/26\/1920x1281_cmsv2_da5a2c9c-0ca6-564a-a354-59e016650e82-8901526.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 95vw, (max-width: 1024px) 80vw, (max-width: 1280px) 55vw, 728px\"\/>\n <figcaption class=\"widget__caption\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionWrap\">\n <span class=\"widget__captionText\">A broken bust of the former Syrian leader Hafez al-Assad, father of Bashar al-Assad, lies on the ground destroyed by opposition fighters in Aleppo, 30 November 2024<\/span>\n <span class=\"widget__captionCredit\">AP Photo\/Omar Albam<\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Compounding the risks is Turkey\u2019s expanding Islamist agenda under President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan, which has seen Ankara supporting HTS and providing the green light for the offensive, culminating in the fall of the al-Assad regime. <\/p>\n<p>Although Erdo\u011fan has refrained from supporting HTS or its radical agenda publicly, the offensive would have been impossible without Turkish military training, technical knowledge and logistical support. <\/p>\n<p>Although Erdo\u011fan's government\u2019s primary interest has been to target the Kurdish military stationed in an autonomous enclave in northern Syria just across the Turkish border, seeing Moscow and Tehran \u2014 its other primary strategic nemeses in the region \u2014 losing a foothold is certainly a welcome development. <\/p>\n<p>And while reports have surfaced that Turkish actions have been coordinated with Israel, with whom it shares a mutual interest in ridding the region of Russian and Iranian assets, an empowered Erdo\u011fan, who has increasingly worked to export his vision of political Islam abroad, is certainly not in Europe\u2019s best interest. <\/p>\n<p>Erdo\u011fan's rhetoric, which has included likening modern struggles against Western interest to historic battles against the \u201cCrusader world\u201d, highlights the ideological zeal driving his policies. <\/p>\n<p>Although perhaps secretly coordinating with Israel at this particular inflexion point, Erdo\u011fan's past calls for an alliance of Islamic countries against perceived threats from Israel further underscores his agenda\u2019s regional and international implications. <\/p>\n<p>For Europe, this means grappling not just with the immediate fallout of Syria\u2019s instability but also with the broader ripple effects of Erdo\u011fan's ideological expansion.<\/p>\n<h2>How to make this ray of hope last?<\/h2><p>Despite reports of Syrians, who are returning to Syria in droves in the euphoria of the moment, any renewed wave of instability in the Middle Eastern country would certainly lead to another surge of refugees seeking safety on the shores of Europe. <\/p>\n<p>That, coupled with an empowered Turkey that would likely, as it has in the past, leverage refugees as a bargaining chip in its own dealings with the European Union, would not be a welcome scenario in Brussels. <\/p>\n<p>With a Trump administration expected to withdraw what remains of a US presence in Syria, particularly in the Kurdish autonomous region, Erdo\u011fan would have a free hand to pursue his ambitions, including crushing Kurdish autonomy once and for all while entrenching, for the long-term, Turkish influence in northern Syria.<\/p>\n<p>The much-welcomed fall of al-Assad does mark the end of a very brutal era, providing Syrians with a long-awaited ray of hope. <\/p>\n<p>However, it should not be seen as the end of Syria\u2019s troubles or even an automatic new beginning, although it is a chance at one. <\/p>\n<p>For Europe, the risks of inaction and complacency far outweigh any fleeting sense of relief at al-Assad\u2019s demise. The broader implications \u2014 from regional instability to ideological exportation \u2014 should make Syria\u2019s future an immediate matter of concern.<\/p>\n<p><em>Shlomo Roiter Jesner is the president and co-founder of the Cambridge Middle East and North Africa Forum. He is also the CEO of London-based F&R Strategy Group, a geopolitical consultancy at the intersection of politics and business.<\/em><\/p>\n","hashtag":null,"createdAt":1733823797,"updatedAt":1734005239,"publishedAt":1733828501,"firstPublishedAt":1733828501,"lastPublishedAt":1734005239,"expiresAt":0,"images":[{"sourceUrl":null,"sourceCredit":null,"callToActionUrl":null,"captionCredit":"AP Photo\/Euronews","altText":"An opposition fighter fires his AK-47 in the air in celebration after opposition forces took control of the city in Damascus, 8 December 2024","callToActionText":null,"width":1600,"caption":"An opposition fighter fires his AK-47 in the air in celebration after opposition forces took control of the city in Damascus, 8 December 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OVERNIGHT WRAP","channels":[{"id":1},{"id":2},{"id":4},{"id":5},{"id":10},{"id":12},{"id":14}],"status":2,"title":"Syrian government services come to 'complete halt' as state workers stay home after rebel takeover","titleSeo":null,"titleListing1":"Syrian government halts as workers stay home after rebel takeover","titleListing2":"Syrian government services come to a 'complete halt' as state workers stay home after rebel takeover","leadin":"A UN official said that the country\u2019s public sector had come \u201cto a complete and abrupt halt,\u201d with some state workers reportedly failing to return to their jobs.","summary":"A UN official said that the country\u2019s public sector had come \u201cto a complete and abrupt halt,\u201d with some state workers reportedly failing to return to their jobs.","keySentence":"","url":"syrian-government-services-come-to-a-complete-halt-as-state-workers-stay-home-after-rebel-","canonical":"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2024\/12\/09\/syrian-government-services-come-to-a-complete-halt-as-state-workers-stay-home-after-rebel-","masterCms":"v2","plainText":"Syria\u2019s Prime Minister Mohammad al-Jalai said on Monday that most cabinet ministers were back at work after rebels overthrew President Bashar Assad.\u00a0\n\nHowever, the public sector in the country has come to a sudden and total standstill, according to Adam Abdelmoula, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria. \n\nAbdelmoula said that some state workers have reportedly failed to return to their duties, citing an aid flight with critical medical supplies being delayed because aviation personnel had deserted their posts.\n\n\u201cThis is a country that has had one government for 53 years and then suddenly all of those who have been demonized by the public media are now in charge in the nation\u2019s capital,\u201d Abdelmoula told The Associated Press. \n\n\"I think it will take a couple of days and a lot of assurance on the part of the armed groups for these people to return to work again.\u201d\n\nSyrian rebels announced that Ahmad al-Shaara, known as Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, the HTS leader, met in Damascus on Monday with the outgoing Prime Minister Mohammad al-Jalai, who chaired Assad\u2019s government.\u00a0\n\nTalks focused on the political transition in the country, according to the rebel coalition.\u00a0\n\nThe rebel alliance is led by al-Jolani, a former senior Al Qaida militant who severed ties with the extremist group years ago and has promised representative government and religious tolerance.\u00a0\n\nBritain and the US are both reportedly considering whether to remove the main anti-Assad rebel group from their lists of designated terrorist organisations.\n\nMeanwhile, streams of refugees crossed back into Syria from neighbouring countries \u2013 hoping for a more peaceful future and looking for relatives who disappeared during Assad\u2019s rule.\u00a0\n\nDamascus was quiet on Monday, with life slowly returning to normal, though most shops and public institutions were closed. In public squares, some people were still celebrating. Civilian traffic resumed, but there was no public transport. Long lines formed in front of bakeries and other food stores.\u00a0\n\nAcross swathes of Syria, families are now waiting outside prisons, security offices and courts, hoping for news of loved ones who were imprisoned or who disappeared.\u00a0\n\nJust north of Damascus in the feared Saydnaya military prison, women detainees, some with their children, screamed as rebels broke locks off their cell doors. \n\nAmnesty International and other groups say dozens of people were secretly executed every week in Saydnaya, and they estimate that up to 13,000 Syrians were killed between 2011 and 2016.\n\n","htmlText":"<p>Syria\u2019s Prime Minister Mohammad al-Jalai said on Monday that most cabinet ministers were back at work after rebels overthrew President Bashar Assad.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>However, the public sector in the country has come to a sudden and total standstill, according to Adam Abdelmoula, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria. <\/p>\n<p>Abdelmoula said that some state workers have reportedly failed to return to their duties, citing an aid flight with critical medical supplies being delayed because aviation personnel had deserted their posts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a country that has had one government for 53 years and then suddenly all of those who have been demonized by the public media are now in charge in the nation\u2019s capital,\u201d Abdelmoula told The Associated Press. <\/p>\n<p>\"I think it will take a couple of days and a lot of assurance on the part of the armed groups for these people to return to work again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Syrian rebels announced that Ahmad al-Shaara, known as Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, the HTS leader, met in Damascus on Monday with the outgoing Prime Minister Mohammad al-Jalai, who chaired Assad\u2019s government.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Talks focused on the political transition in the country, according to the rebel coalition.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The rebel alliance is led by al-Jolani, a former senior Al Qaida militant who severed ties with the extremist group years ago and has promised representative government and religious tolerance.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Britain and the US are both reportedly considering whether to remove the main anti-Assad rebel group from their lists of designated terrorist organisations.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, streams of refugees crossed back into Syria from neighbouring countries \u2013 hoping for a more peaceful future and looking for relatives who disappeared during Assad\u2019s rule.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Damascus was quiet on Monday, with life slowly returning to normal, though most shops and public institutions were closed. In public squares, some people were still celebrating. Civilian traffic resumed, but there was no public transport. Long lines formed in front of bakeries and other food stores.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Across swathes of Syria, families are now waiting outside prisons, security offices and courts, hoping for news of loved ones who were imprisoned or who disappeared.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Just north of Damascus in the feared Saydnaya military prison, women detainees, some with their children, screamed as rebels broke locks off their cell doors. <\/p>\n<p>Amnesty International and other groups say dozens of people were secretly executed every week in Saydnaya, and they estimate that up to 13,000 Syrians were killed between 2011 and 2016.<\/p>\n","hashtag":null,"createdAt":1733784485,"updatedAt":1733814197,"publishedAt":1733787789,"firstPublishedAt":1733787789,"lastPublishedAt":1733812382,"expiresAt":0,"images":[{"url":"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/08\/90\/06\/60\/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_84ea2b3a-d0b9-5bba-95ea-0cc375137abd-8900660.jpg","altText":"Syrian citizens wave the revolutionary flag and shout slogans, as they celebrate during the second day of the take over of the city by the insurgents in Damascus, Syria, Monda","caption":"Syrian citizens wave the revolutionary flag and shout slogans, as they celebrate during the second day of the take over of the city by the insurgents in Damascus, Syria, Monda","captionUrl":null,"captionCredit":"Hussein Malla\/Copyright 2024 The AP. 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