Change of power after 24 years: Syria celebrates a new beginning after the fall of Assad

After the fall of the old government, people across Syria celebrated a new beginning. Eyewitnesses reported that tens of thousands of the country’s residents gathered at the Umayad Mosque in the capital Damascus alone after Friday prayers. According to the Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera, Syrians from many parts of the country flocked to the capital for the celebrations.

The leader of the rebel group Haiat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Ahmed al-Sharaa, previously known by his nom de guerre as Abu Mohammed al-Julani, had previously called on people to celebrate peacefully in large public squares. A rebel alliance led by HTS overthrew Bashar al-Assad, the authoritarian ruler who has ruled for 24 years, on Sunday. Assad fled to Russia, where he was granted asylum.

Türkiye is taking action against Kurdish militias

Turkey wants to increase pressure on Kurdish militias in Syria. His government will take preventive steps against all “terrorist organizations” active in Syria, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an official statement after a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Ankara. Turkey is fighting the Kurdish militia YPG in Syria, which is a key partner for the USA in the fight against the Islamic State (IS). However, Ankara views the YPG as an offshoot of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Turkey is seen as the most influential foreign actor after the change of power in Syria. “Ankara has the strongest communication channels and has a long history of working with the Islamist group that is currently in charge in Damascus,” wrote analyst Gönül Tol in a piece for Foreign Affairs regarding the HTS.

Ex-director of torture prison indicted

The former head of a notorious prison in the Syrian capital Damascus has been indicted in the US on torture allegations. The 72-year-old is accused of ordering his subordinates to inflict severe physical and mental suffering on political and other prisoners, the US Department of Justice said. Sometimes he was also personally involved in torture. According to media reports, he was arrested at Los Angeles airport in July this year.

The man is said to have headed the central prison in Damascus, also known as Adra Prison, under Assad from around 2005 to 2008. In a “punishment wing,” on his instructions, prisoners were beaten while they hung from the ceiling with their arms outstretched. Prisoners were also tortured with a device known as a “flying carpet,” which twisted their bodies and caused unbearable pain and even fractured vertebrae.

Russia is losing influence

According to an internal analysis by the Bundeswehr, Russia is preparing to completely withdraw its troops from Syria. The Russian Mediterranean Association has already left the port of Tartus, according to a note from the Defense Ministry that is available to the German Press Agency. Accordingly, security guarantees from the new Syrian rulers after the fall of Bashar al-Assad probably only refer to the orderly withdrawal of Russian forces and not to a permanent presence.

The Latakia military airport, which Russia has so far used as a hub for supplying its forces in Libya, as well as the port of Tartus, is also up for grabs. Loss of this base could affect air transport to Libya, as longer routes mean less material capacity. Without stopovers, heavy transport would only be possible if Turkish overflight rights continue to exist, which are viewed critically within NATO, according to the report.

Israel stations soldiers on important mountain

Israeli soldiers are to remain stationed on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon over the winter. Defense Minister Israel Katz has instructed the army to prepare to remain at the summit in the coming months, his office said. The strategically important location enables the monitoring of large parts of Syria and Lebanon and is particularly relevant given the developments in Syria.

After the coup in Syria, Israel’s army had moved troops into a so-called buffer zone – a geographical area that lies between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria under the 1974 ceasefire agreement and is under UN surveillance. According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this is a temporary measure. The advance into Syrian territory has met with international criticism.

New air strikes on weapons depots

Since the overthrow of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, Israel’s air force has also been heavily bombing military facilities in the interior of the country. There were again air strikes on Friday night. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that weapons depots and research centers in the rural areas of Homs and Hama were hit.