Region

DAMASCUS — Washington is scrapping a long-standing reward for the arrest of Syria's new leader, a senior US diplomat said Friday, following "positive messages" from a first meeting that included a promise to fight terrorism.

Barbara Leaf, Washington's top diplomat for the Middle East, made the comments after her meeting with the rebel leader in Damascus -- the first formal mission to Syria's capital by United States diplomats since the early days of Syria's civil war.

The lightning offensive that toppled president Bashar Al Assad on December 8 was led by the extremist Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS), which is rooted in Al-Qaeda's Syria branch but has sought to moderate its image in recent years.

Leaf's meeting with HTS chief Sharaa came despite Washington's six-year-old designation of his group as a terrorist organisation.

"Based on our discussion, I told him we would not be pursuing the Rewards for Justice reward offer," Leaf told reporters.

After their talks, "it's a little incoherent, then, to have a bounty on the guy's head," she said, welcoming the messages from him.

"We will be looking for progress on these principles and actions, not just words," she said.

After the meeting, a statement from Syria's new leaders said they wanted to contribute to regional peace.

"The Syrian people stand at an equal distance from all countries and parties in the region... Syria rejects any polarisation," the statement said.

Leaf said she told Sharaa of the "critical need to ensure terrorist groups cannot pose a threat inside of Syria or externally, including to the US and our partners in the region."

The US delegation also included Roger Carstens, the US pointman on hostages. He said he worked on Friday with the new Syrian leadership to search a location where American journalist Austin Tice could have been held, and "we'll be working with the interim authorities" to examine other locations.

Tice was kidnapped in Syria in August 2012.

US strikes Daesh

On a regional tour prior to the Aqaba talks, Secretary of State Antony Blinken had stressed the need to prevent a resurgence of the Daesh terror group extremists.

The US military said on Friday its forces had killed a Daesh leader and another operative in Deir Ezzor province, part of escalated US military action against the group since Assad's overthrow.

The US embassy said Leaf also met with Syria's White Helmet rescuers, civil society leaders, activists and others "to hear directly from them about their vision for the future of their country".

Below a photograph of Leaf and others with a memorial wreath, the embassy said she had also commemorated the tens of thousands of people murdered, tortured, disappeared or detained under Assad.

"The US commitment to hold accountable those responsible for these atrocities is unwavering," the embassy said on X.

 Turkish pressure

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who backed Assad's opponents, has stressed reconciliation and restoration of Syria's territorial integrity and unity.

Turkey has been putting pressure on Kurdish-led forces in Syria, and Erdogan said Friday it was time to destroy "terrorist" groups operating in the country, specifically Daesh and Kurdish fighters.

"Daesh, the PKK and their affiliates -- which threaten the survival of Syria -- must be eradicated," he told journalists following a summit in Cairo.

The autonomous administration in northeastern Syria is protected by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, mostly made up of the People's Protection Units (YPG).

Turkey accuses the YPG of being a branch of the PKK, which both Washington and Ankara consider a terrorist group.

Kurdish leaders in Syria have welcomed Assad's ouster and raised the three-star independence-era rebel flag, but many in the region fear continued attacks by Turkey and allied fighters.

Leaf said Washington was urging a ceasefire between Turkish-backed forces and the SDF around the Kurdish-held Syrian border town of Kobane, also known as Ain Al Arab.

On a visit to Ankara on Friday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned of the dangers of any "escalation" of the fighting, saying: "Security, especially for Kurds, is essential for a free and secure future for Syria."

Iran and Russia had long helped to prop up Assad, but on Friday Leaf said she expected Syria would completely end any role for Iran.

Amy Pope, the head of the UN migration agency, on Friday urged "the caretaker government to continue to empower and enable women, because they are going to be absolutely critical to the rebuilding of the country".

Pope also called for the raft of international sanctions on Syria to be reassessed to help the country regain its footing.

Syria's civil war killed more than 500,000 people and sparked an exodus of millions of refugees.

On Friday, almost two weeks after Assad's fall and flight to Moscow, Syrians continued to celebrate. Fireworks exploded over Umayyad Square in Damascus, where flag-waving crowds gathered.

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories — Gaza's civil defence rescue agency reported that an Israeli air strike killed 10 members of a family on Friday in the northern part of the territory, including seven children.

Violence in the Gaza Strip continues to rock the coastal territory more than 14 months into the Hamas-Israel war, even as international mediators work to negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

"There are 10 martyrs ... all targeted by an air strike on their home in Jabalia al-Nazla, southwest of Jabalia. All of the martyrs are from the same family, including seven children, the oldest aged six," civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

Bassal said the strike injured 15 other people.

The Israeli military when contacted by AFP did not offer an immediate response.

Israel in early October began a major military operation in Gaza's north, which it said aimed to prevent Hamas from regrouping there.

Amid the ongoing violence, the United States, Egypt, and Qatar are engaged in renewed negotiations to halt the war and secure the release of dozens of hostages still held by militants in Gaza.

On Tuesday, the United States expressed "cautious optimism" about the prospects of reaching a ceasefire in Gaza.

The war was sparked by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 45,206 people, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

ROME — The UN expressed outrage Friday after three World Food Programme (WFP) staff were killed in an "aerial bombardment" in Sudan, but said it would keep working in the conflict-ravaged country.

WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain called for a thorough investigation into the "appalling incident", while a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was "outraged".

War has raged since April 2023 between the Sudanese army under de facto ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

"I am shocked and heartbroken by the tragic deaths of three members of the WFP Sudan country team," McCain said in a statement.

The trio ,  the head of field office, a programme associate and a security guard , were killed "after an aerial bombardment hit the WFP Field Office Compound in Yabus, Blue Nile State" on Thursday evening, she said.

One staff member died immediately, while the other two were critically injured and died while being transferred for treatment.

The WFP was urgently working to establish what happened, McCain said, adding: "I demand a thorough investigation and for the perpetrators to be held accountable."

McCain said the victims -- whose nationalities and names were not published,  had been "carrying out life-saving duties on the frontlines of one of the world's largest hunger crises".

"WFP remains committed to delivering humanitarian assistance across Sudan, including in Blue Nile State," the agency chief said.

"WFP will stay and deliver vital food and nutrition aid across all locations in Sudan. This is what our fallen colleagues would have wanted."

However, she called on world leaders to advocate for better protection for humanitarian workers in general, saying a record number had died in 2024.

The WFP on Thursday warned that Sudan risks becoming the world's largest hunger crisis in recent history, with 1.7 million people across the country either experiencing famine or at risk of famine.

BAGHDAD — Iraq said it would begin repatriating on Thursday Syrian troops who fled a lightning offensive that precipitated the ouster of president Bashar al-Assad.

"Today, the Iraqi authorities will start returning Syrian soldiers to their country after coordinating with the relevant Syrian authorities in this regard," interior ministry spokesman Miqdad Miri said.

Assad fled Syria as an offensive spearheaded by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) closed in on Damascus, more than 13 years after his crackdown on democracy protests morphed into one of the deadliest wars of the century.

Taking city after city in a matter of days, the Islamist-led rebels faced little resistance and reached Damascus on December 8.

At the time, an Iraqi security source said hundreds of Syrian soldiers who fled the front lines had been allowed through the Al-Qaim border crossing. Some had been wounded, the source said.

On Thursday, Miri said the soldiers would be repatriated through the same crossing.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior Iraqi official said the repatriation would take place under "the supervision of international organisations".

Syria's new rulers have put out a call to soldiers and police to lay down their arms and register with the authorities.

Iraqi Deputy Commander of Joint Operations Lieutenant General Qais al-Mohammadawi told Iraqi media on Wednesday that the soldiers had had their "names, equipment and weapons carefully inventoried". 

DAMASCUS — The UN envoy to Syria called on Wednesday for "free and fair" elections after the ouster of president Bashar Al Assad, as he voiced hope for a political solution for Kurdish-held areas.

Assad fled Syria following a lightning offensive spearheaded by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS), more than 13 years after his crackdown on democracy protests precipitated one of the deadliest wars of the century.

He left behind a country scarred by decades of torture, disappearances and summary executions, and the collapse of his rule on December 8 stunned the world and sparked celebrations around Syria and beyond.

Years of civil war have also left the country heavily dependent on aid, deeply fragmented, and desperate for justice and peace.

Addressing reporters in Damascus, UN special envoy Geir Pedersen said "there is a lot of hope that we can now see the beginning of a new Syria".

"A new Syria that... will adopt a new constitution... and that we will have free and fair elections when that time comes, after a transitional period," he said.

Calling for immediate humanitarian assistance, he also said he hoped to see an end to international sanctions levied against Syria over Assad's abuses.

Pedersen said a key challenge was the situation in Kurdish-held areas in Syria's northeast, amid fears of a major escalation between the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Turkey-backed groups.

Turkey accuses the main component of the SDF, the People's Protection Units (YPG), of being affiliated with Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants at home, whom both Washington and Ankara consider a "terrorist" group.

The United States said Tuesday it had brokered an extension to a fragile ceasefire in the flashpoint town of Manbij and was seeking a broader understanding with Turkey.

"I'm very pleased that the truce has been renewed and that it seems to be holding, but hopefully we will see a political solution to that issue," Pedersen said.

 'We want to know' 

Rooted in Syria's branch of Al-Qaeda and proscribed as a terrorist organisation by several Western governments, HTS has sought to moderate its rhetoric by assuring protection for the country's many religious and ethnic minorities.

It has appointed a transitional leadership that will run the country until March 1.

HTS military chief Murhaf Abu Qasra said Kurdish-held areas would be integrated under the country's new leadership, adding that the group rejects federalism.

"Syria will not be divided," he told AFP, adding that "the Kurdish people are one of the components of the Syrian people."

HTS has also vowed justice for the crimes committed under Assad's rule, including the disappearance of tens of thousands of people into the complex web of detention centres and prisons that was used for decades to silence dissent.

"We want to know where our children are, our brothers," said 55-year-old Ziad Alaywi, standing by a ditch near the town of Najha, southeast of Damascus.

It is one of the locations where Syrians believe the bodies of prisoners tortured to death were buried -- acts that international organisations say could constitute crimes against humanity.

"Were they killed? Are they buried here?" he asked.

Syrian civil defence official Ammar al-Salmo said unidentified human remains had been discovered in a medicine warehouse just 50 metres (yards) from the Sayyida Zeinab shrine, a revered pilgrimage destination for Shiite Muslims in the southern suburbs of Damascus.

The area was heavily guarded by pro-Iran fighters before Islamist-led rebels captured the capital on December 8.

"In the warehouse, we found a refrigerated room containing decomposing corpses," Salmo said, adding that some appeared to have died more than a year and a half earlier.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, more than 100,000 people died or were killed in custody from 2011.

 'Direct engagement' 

The country's new rulers have sought to keep its institutions going and, on Wednesday, a commercial flight took off from Damascus airport to Aleppo, the first since Assad was toppled and fled to Russia.

They have also stepped up contacts with countries that had long seen Assad as a pariah, and with international institutions.

EU chief Ursula Von der Leyen said the bloc would intensify its "direct engagement" with the new administration.

Members of the UN Security Council, which Russia as well as the United States, called on Tuesday for an "inclusive and Syrian-led" political process.

"This political process should meet the legitimate aspirations of all Syrians, protect all of them and enable them to peacefully, independently and democratically determine their own futures," a statement said.

It also "underlined the need for Syria and its neighbours to mutually refrain from any action... that could undermine each other's security".

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on Syrian military assets since Assad's overthrow in what it says is a bid to prevent them falling into hostile hands.

Israeli troops also occupied strategic positions in a UN-patrolled buffer zone in a move UN chief Antonio Guterres described as a breach of a 1974 armistice.

UNITED NATIONS, United States — Syria's conflict "has not ended" even after the departure of former president Bashar Al Assad, the UN's envoy to the country warned Tuesday, highlighting clashes between Turkish-backed and Kurdish groups in the north.

Geir Pedersen, the UN's special envoy for Syria, also called at the Security Council for Israel to "cease all settlement activity in the occupied Syrian Golan" and said an end to sanctions would be key to assisting Syria.

"There have been significant hostilities in the last two weeks, before a ceasefire was brokered... A five-day ceasefire has now expired and I am seriously concerned about reports of military escalation," he said.

"Such an escalation could be catastrophic."

Pedersen also said he had met with Syria's new de facto leadership following the rebels' lightning takeover, and toured Sednaya prison's "dungeons" and "torture and execution chambers," operated under Assad's government.

He called for "broad support" for Syria and an end to sanctions to allow for reconstruction of the war-ravaged country.

"Concrete movement on an inclusive political transition will be key in ensuring Syria receives the economic support it needs," Pedersen said. 

Syria's new rulers stepped up engagement on Tuesday with countries that deemed ousted president Assad a pariah, with the French flag raised at the embassy for the first time in over a decade.

Assad fled Syria just over a week ago, as his forces abandoned tanks and other equipment in the face of a lightning offensive spearheaded by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS).

The collapse of Assad's rule on December 8 stunned the world and sparked celebrations around Syria and beyond, after his crackdown on democracy protests in 2011 led to one of the deadliest wars of the century.

Rooted in Syria's branch of Al-Qaeda, HTS is proscribed by several Western governments as a terrorist organisation, though it has sought to moderate its rhetoric and pledged to protect the country's religious minorities.

The EU will reopen its mission in Syria following "constructive" talks with its new leadership, the bloc's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said, describing it as a "very important step".

Turkey and Qatar, which backed the anti-Assad opposition, have reopened embassies in Damascus, while US and British officials have launched communications with Syria's new leaders.

France, an early backer of the uprising, sent a delegation to Damascus on Tuesday, with special envoy Jean-Francois Guillaume saying his country was preparing to stand with Syrians during the transitional period.

An AFP journalist saw the French flag raised in the embassy's entrance hall for the first time since the mission was shuttered in 2012.

After meeting Syria's new leaders, the United Nations humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said on Tuesday he was "encouraged", and that there was a "basis for ambitious scaling-up of vital humanitarian support".

German diplomats were also in Damascus on Tuesday, while Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni said her country was ready to engage with the new leadership.

Syria came under international sanctions over Assad's crackdown on protests, which sparked a war that killed more than 500,000 people and forced half of the population to flee their homes.

Assad left behind a country scarred by decades of torture, disappearances and summary executions, as well as economic mismanagement that has left 70 percent of the population in need of aid.

Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who heads HTS, stressed the need in a meeting with a delegation of British diplomats to end "all sanctions imposed on Syria so that Syrian refugees can return to their country".

He also said Syria's rebel factions will be "disbanded and the fighters trained to join the ranks of the defence ministry".

"Syria must remain united," he said, according to posts on the group's Telegram channel. "There must be a social contract between the state and all religions to guarantee social justice".

The EU's Kallas said the lifting of sanctions and removing HTS from its blacklist would depend on "when we see positive steps, not the words, but actual steps and deeds from the new leadership".

The United Nations expects one million people to return to Syria in the first half of 2025, after the war pushed six million people to seek refuge abroad.

 'Colour of peace' 

In Damascus's old souk, many shops had reopened more than a week since Assad's ouster, according to an AFP journalist.

Some shopkeepers were painting their store facades white, erasing the colours of the old Syrian flag that under Assad's rule had become ubiquitous.

"We have been working non-stop for a week to paint everything white," Omar Bashur, a 61-year-old artisan said.

"White is the colour of peace," he added.

Abu Imad, another vendor, was selling vegetables from his car at a square in central Damascus.

"Everything happened at once: the regime fell, prices dropped, life got better. We hope it isn't temporary," he said.

With Assad gone, the Syrian pound started to recover against the dollar, moneychangers and traders said, as foreign currencies again became available on the local market.

Iran, which backed Assad throughout the civil war, said its embassy in Syria -- abandoned and vandalised in the wake of Assad's fall -- would reopen once the "necessary conditions" are met.

Russia was the other main backer of Assad's rule.

On Monday, the ousted president broke his silence with a statement on Telegram saying that he only left to Russia once Damascus had fallen, and denounced the country's new leaders as "terrorists".

"My departure from Syria was neither planned nor did it occur during the final hours of the battles," said the statement.

Several former officials had told AFP that Assad was already out of the country hours before the rebels seized Damascus.

 'My tears were dry' 

Around the country, Syrians deprived for years of news of missing loved ones searched desperately for clues that might help them find closure.

In a war-ravaged Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus, Radwan Adwan was stacking stones to rebuild his father's grave, finally able to return to the cemetery.

"Without the fall of the regime, it would have been impossible to see my father's grave again," said 45-year-old Adwan.

Yarmuk camp was bombed and besieged by Assad's forces, emptied of most of its residents and reduced to ruins before its recapture in 2018, when access to the cemetery was officially banned.

"When we arrived, there was no trace of the grave," said Adwan.

His mother Zeina sat on a small metal chair in front of her husband's gravesite.

She was "finally" able to weep for him, she said. "Before, my tears were dry."

DAMASCUS — Governments worldwide are stepping up efforts to engage with Syria's new interim rulers, just over a week after Islamist-led rebels ousted president Bashar al-Assad, ending decades of brutal rule and civil war.

The lightning offensive that captured the capital Damascus on December 8 led to celebrations across the country and beyond.

At Damascus university on Sunday, Yasmin Shehab told AFP that she and fellow students felt "optimistic".

"We feel liberated, and the chains have been broken," she said. "Fear has been shattered."

But the surprise ouster caught many governments by surprise, and has left them scrambling for a new policy.

Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS), the extremist group that led the offensive, is rooted in Al-Qaeda's Syrian branch, and is still designated a terrorist group by several Western governments.

Diplomats, including UN envoy Geir Pedersen who was in Syria on Sunday, have urged an inclusive new administration focused on nation-building and justice.

Pedersen met with HTS chief and called for "justice and accountability for crimes".

"We need to make sure that that goes through a credible justice system, and that we don't see any revenge," he said.

A Qatari delegation also landed in Syria on Sunday to meet transitional government officials and pledge "full commitment to supporting the Syrian people."

Qatar's embassy is set to resume operations Tuesday, 13 years after it closed in the early stages of an anti-government uprising that sparked years of civil war.

Unlike other Arab countries, Qatar never restored ties with Assad's Syria.

Aid and diplomacy

It comes after Turkey, a key backer of some of the rebel groups that ousted Assad, reopened its embassy in Damascus on Saturday.

Both Britain and the United States also confirmed they were in touch with HTS despite officially considering the organisation a terrorist group.

"We can have diplomatic contact and so we do have diplomatic contact," British Foreign Minister David Lammy said as he announced an aid package for Syrians.

A French diplomatic team is also due in Damascus on Tuesday to "retake possession of our real estate" and make "initial contact" with the new authorities, said acting Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot.

They will also be "evaluating the urgent needs of the population", he added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meanwhile said his country was coordinating on providing aid including wheat, flour and oil to Syria.

Torture, death threats

Rebels entered Damascus after an 11-day offensive that came over a decade into the civil war sparked by Assad's violent crackdown on anti-government protests which erupted in 2011.

The war has killed upwards of 500,000 people and displaced more than half the country's population.

Assad's departure has seens notorious jails thrown open and prisoners recount the abuses they suffered.

"Towards the end I just wanted to die, waiting for when they would execute us," Ghazi Mohammed al-Mohammed told AFP of his five months in detention.

He was never told why he was arrested, but said he faced torture and death threats in detention.

 'Massive destruction'

A cautious sense of calm is returning to many cities, with children in Damascus streaming back to school on Sunday -- the first day of the week in Syria -- for the first time since Assad fled.

Damascus's interim governor acknowledged that major obstacles lay ahead.

"The challenges we are facing right now are the massive destruction of the institutional structure in terms of human resources, local economy, and the social structure," said Maher Marwan.

"This is a reality that requires great effort and awareness, in addition to solidarity by everyone at this phase."

UN envoy Pedersen called for "increased, immediate" aid during his Damascus visit.

Turkey was ready to provide military support to the new Islamist-led government, Defence Minister Yasar Guler said Sunday, Turkish media reported.

The new leadership should be given "a chance", he added.

HTS has sought to moderate its rhetoric in recent years, but its seizure of power has sparked some concern over the protection of religious and ethnic minorities.

Syrian Christians attending their first Sunday church service since Assad's fall said they were largely reassured so far.

"Thank God, our situation is good," said Ibtissam Al Khouli at a Damascus church.

"Everyone feels comfortable, there's no fear," she told AFP.

The interim government insists they will protect the rights of all Syrians, and the rule of law.

Russian evacuation

Assad was propped up by key allies including Lebanon's Hizbollah militant group, Iran, and Russia, whose foreign ministry said Sunday it had evacuated some diplomatic staff from Syria.

They left "by a special flight of the Russian Air Force from the Hmeimim airbase," the ministry said.

The rebel advance began on November 27, as a ceasefire took effect in the Israel-Hizbollah war in Lebanon, which battered the militant group.

Both Israel and Turkey have carried out military strikes inside Syria since Assad's fall.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted his country has "no interest in confronting Syria", despite carrying out hundreds of strikes over the past week.

"Israel's policy toward Syria will be determined by the evolving reality on the ground," he said in a video statement.

Those strikes continued early Monday, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor reporting raids on military sites in the country's coastal Tartus region.

The UK-based monitor, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, said the raids were "the heaviest strikes" in the area in more than a decade.

Israel has also ordered troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, a move denounced by Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and which the UN said violated a 1974 armistice.

And Israel's government on Sunday approved a plan to double the population in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.