Region

DAMASCUS — Hours before extremists’ forces seized Damascus and toppled his government on Sunday, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was already out of the country, telling hardly anyone, and five former officials told AFP.

The night before, Assad had even asked his close adviser Buthaina Shaaban to prepare a speech, which the ousted leader never gave, before flying from Damascus airport to Russia's Hmeimim air base in Syria, and from there out of the country.

Assad left even "without telling... his close confidants in advance", a former aide told AFP, requesting anonymity for security reasons.

"From the Russian base, a plane took him to Moscow."

"His brother Maher," who commanded the Syrian army's feared Fourth Brigade, "heard about it by chance while he was with his soldiers defending Damascus. He decided to take a helicopter and leave, apparently to Baghdad," added the former aide.

Other top officials in Assad's government and sources told AFP what happened in the final hours of the iron-fisted leader's 24-year rule.

All spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.

 Leaderless 

When Islamist-led extremists’ forces launched their offensive in Syria's north on November 27; Assad was in Moscow, where his wife Asma has been treated for cancer.

Two days later, when their son Hafez was defending his doctoral thesis at a Moscow university, the whole family were there, but not Bashar, according to a presidential palace official.

On November 30, when Assad returned from Moscow, Syria's second city of Aleppo was no longer under his government's control.

The following week, the extremists took Hama and Homs in quick succession, before eventually reaching the capital.

Another palace official said he did not see Assad the day before Damascus fell last Sunday.

"On Saturday Assad didn't meet with us. We knew he was there, but did not have a meeting with him," said the top official.

"We were at the palace, there was no explanation, and it caused great confusion at the senior levels and on the ground," he said.

"Actually, we had not seen him since the fall of Aleppo, which was very strange."

During that fateful week, Assad called a meeting of the heads of Syria's intelligence services to reassure them.

But the long-time leader did not show up, and "Aleppo's fall shocked us", said the same top palace official.

Hama was next to fall into extremists hands.

"On Thursday, I spoke at 11:30 am with troops in Hama who assured me the city was under lockdown and not even a mouse could make it in," an army colonel told AFP.

"Two hours later they received the order not to fight, and to redeploy in Homs to the south," added the officer of the next strategic city sought by the extremists on their way to Damascus.

"The soldiers were helpless, changing clothes, throwing away their weapons and trying to head home. Who gave the order? We don't know."

The governor of Homs told a journalist that he had asked the army to resist. But no government forces defended the city.

 Delay 

On Saturday morning, someone in the halls of power in Damascus brought up the idea of Assad making a speech.

"We started to set up the equipment. Everything was ready," said the first palace official.

"Later on we were surprised to learn that the speech had been postponed, maybe to Sunday morning."

According to him, top officials and aides were unaware that while this was happening, the Syrian army had already begun destroying its archives by setting them on fire.

Still on Saturday, at around 9:00 pm (1800 GMT), "the president calls his political adviser Buthaina Shaaban to ask her to prepare a speech for him, and to present it to the political committee which is meant to meet on Sunday morning", said a senior official close to Assad.

"At 10:00 pm she calls him back, but he no longer picks up the phone."

That evening, Assad's media director Kamel Sakr told journalists: "The president is going to deliver a statement very soon."

But then Sakr, too, stopped answering his phone, as did interior minister Mohammed al-Rahmoun.

The palace official said he stayed in his office until 2:30 am on Sunday. Within less than four hours, the extremists were to announce that Assad was gone.

"We were ready to receive a statement or a message from Assad at any moment," said the top palace official.

"We could have never imagined such a scenario. We didn't even know whether the president was still at the palace."

 'Everything was lost' 

At around midnight, the palace official had been told that Assad needed a cameraman for Sunday morning.

"That reassured us that he was in fact still there," he said.

But just before 2:00 am, an intelligence officer called to say all government officials and forces had left their offices and positions.

"I was shocked. It was just the two of us in the office. The palace was almost empty, and we were totally confused," said the official.

At 2:30 am he left the palace.

In the city centre, "arriving at Umayyad Square, there were plenty of soldiers fleeing, looking for transportation," he said.

"There were thousands of them, coming from the security compound, the defence ministry and other security branches. We found out that their superiors had ordered them to flee."

The official said it was a "frightening" scene.

"Tens of thousands of cars leaving Damascus, and even more people marching on the road on foot. It was that moment I realised everything was lost and that Damascus had fallen."

RIYADH — Saudi-hosted UN talks failed to produce an agreement on how to respond to drought, participants said on Saturday, falling short of hopes for a binding protocol addressing the growing scourge.

The 12-day meeting of parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), known as COP16, concluded early Saturday morning, one day later than scheduled as parties tried to hammer out a deal.

Prior to the talks, UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw said the world expected negotiators "to adopt a bold decision that can help turn the tide on the most pervasive and the most disruptive environmental disaster: drought".

But addressing the plenary before dawn on Saturday, Thiaw acknowledged that "parties need more time to agree on the best way forward".

An unofficial final decision posted online said the UNCCD, which brings together 196 countries and the European Union, would "continue discussions" on drought based on progress made in Riyadh.

A press release issued on Saturday said countries "made significant progress in laying the groundwork for a future global drought regime, which they intend to complete at COP17 in Mongolia in 2026".

Droughts "fuelled by human destruction of the environment" cost the world more than $300 billion each year, the UN said in a report published on December 3, the second day of the talks in Riyadh.

Droughts are projected to affect 75 per cent  of the world's population by 2050, the report said.

A delegate at COP16 from a country in Africa, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations, told AFP that African nations had hoped the talks would produce a binding protocol on drought.

That would ensure "every government will be held responsible" for devising stronger preparation and response plans, the delegate said.

"It's the first time I've seen Africa so united, with a strong united front, with respect to the drought protocol."

Two other COP16 participants, also requesting anonymity, told AFP that developed countries did not want a binding protocol and instead were pushing for a "framework", which African countries deemed inadequate.

DAMASCUS — Syria's new government spokesman told AFP on Thursday the country's constitution and parliament would be suspended for the duration of the three-month transition period following president Bashar Al Assad's ouster.

"A judicial and human rights committee will be established to examine the constitution and then introduce amendments," Obaida Arnaout told AFP.

The current constitution dates back to 2012 and does not specify Islam as the state religion.

Rebels led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham seized the capital Damascus on Sunday, sending Assad fleeing into exile.

On Tuesday, they named Mohammed al-Bashir, who headed the rebels' self-proclaimed "Salvation Government" in their northwestern bastion of Idlib, as the country's transitional prime minister until March 1.

Arnaout said a meeting would be held on Tuesday "between Salvation Government ministers and the former ministers" of Assad's administration to carry out the transfer of power.

"This transitional period will last three months," he added in an interview with AFP. "Our priority is to preserve and protect institutions."

Speaking at the state television headquarters, now seized by the new rebel authorities, Arnaout pledged that they would institute "the rule of law".

"All those who committed crimes against the Syrian people will be judged in accordance with the law," he added.

Asked about religious and personal freedoms, he said "we respect religious and cultural diversity in Syria", adding that they would remain unchanged.

UNITED NATIONS, United States — The UN General Assembly on Wednesday overwhelmingly adopted a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza, a symbolic gesture rejected by the United States and Israel.

The resolution -- adopted by a vote of 158-9, with 13 abstentions -- urges "an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire," and "the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages" -- wording similar to a text vetoed by Washington in the Security Council last month.

At that time, Washington used its veto power on the Council -- as it has before -- to protect its ally Israel, which has been at war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip since the Palestinian militant group's October 7, 2023 attack.

It has insisted on the idea of making a ceasefire conditional on the release of all hostages in Gaza, saying otherwise that Hamas has no incentive to free those in captivity.

Deputy US Ambassador Robert Wood repeated that position Wednesday, saying it would be "shameful and wrong" to adopt the text.

Ahead of the vote, Israel's UN envoy Danny Danon said: "The resolutions before the assembly today are beyond logic. (...) The vote today is not a vote for compassion. It is a vote for complicity."

The General Assembly often finds itself taking up measures that cannot get through the Security Council, which has been largely paralyzed on hot-button issues such as Gaza and Ukraine due to internal politics, and this time is no different.

The resolution, which is non-binding, demands "immediate access" to widespread humanitarian aid for the citizens of Gaza, especially in the besieged north of the territory.

Dozens of representatives of UN member states addressed the Assembly before the vote to offer their support to the Palestinians. 

"Gaza doesn't exist anymore. It is destroyed," said Slovenia's UN envoy Samuel Zbogar. "History is the harshest critic of inaction."

 'Price of silence' 

That criticism was echoed by Algeria's deputy UN ambassador Nacim Gaouaoui, who said: "The price of silence and failure in the face of the Palestinian tragedy is a very heavy price, and it will be heavier tomorrow."

Israel's offensive in Gaza has killed at least 44,805 people, a majority of them civilians, according to data from the Hamas-run health ministry that is considered reliable by the United Nations.

"Gaza today is the bleeding heart of Palestine," Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour said last week during the first day of debate in the Assembly's special session on the issue. 

"The images of our children burning in tents, with no food in their bellies and no hopes and no horizon for the future, and after having endured pain and loss for more than a year, should haunt the conscience of the world and prompt action to end this nightmare," he said, calling for an end to the "impunity."

After Wednesday's vote, he said "we will keep knocking on the doors of the Security Council and the General Assembly until we see an immediate and unconditional ceasefire put in place." 

The Gaza resolution calls on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to present "proposals on how the United Nations could help to advance accountability" by using existing mechanisms or creating new ones based on past experience.

The Assembly, for example, created an international mechanism to gather evidence of crimes committed in Syria starting from the outbreak of civil war in 2011.

A second resolution calling on Israel to respect the mandate of the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and allow it to continue its operations was passed Wednesday by a vote of 159-9 with 11 abstentions.

Israel has voted to ban the organization starting January 28, after accusing some UNRWA employees of taking part in Hamas's devastating attack.

ROME/ Beirut — Syria's new transitional prime minister has called for Syrians who have sought refuge abroad to return to their homeland following the ouster of longtime president Bashar Al Assad.

Mohammad Al Bashir, appointed by rebel groups as the transitional head of government to run the country until March, told Italy's Corriere della Sera daily that one of his first goals was to "bring back the millions of Syrian refugees who are abroad".

"Their human capital, their experience will allow the country to flourish," Bashir said in an interview published Wednesday.

"Mine is an appeal to all Syrians abroad: Syria is now a free country that has earned its pride and dignity. Come back. We must rebuild, be reborn, and we need everyone's help."

Assad fled Syria as an Islamist-led opposition alliance swept into the capital Damascus over the weekend, bringing to an end five decades of brutal rule by his clan.

Syria's nearly 14-year civil war killed 500,000 people and forced half the country to flee their homes, millions of them finding refuge abroad.

With Assad gone, the country now faces enormous uncertainty.

Concerns about sectarian violence have surfaced, though the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS), which led the rebel offensive, has sought to reassure religious minorities they will be safe in the new Syria.

The country's diverse communities, including Christians, Kurds and Alawites, are now waiting to see what sort of government Bashir will lead.

Syria's Christian community generally supported the Assad government since the start of the civil war in 2011, with the president, himself from the minority Alawite sect, positioning himself as a protector of minorities.

The head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, called Wednesday for "mutual respect" between religions in Syria.

"I pray... that the Syrian people may live in peace and security in their beloved land and the different religions may walk together in friendship and mutual respect for the good of that nation afflicted by so many years of war," he said at his general audience at the Vatican.

Bashir told the Corriere that the "wrong behaviour of some Islamist groups has led many people, especially in the West, to associate Muslims with terrorism and Islam with extremism".

"The meaning of Islam, which is 'religion of justice', was distorted. Precisely because we are Islamic, we will guarantee the rights of all people and all sects in Syria," he said in the interview, published in Italian.

He also said "we have no problem with anyone, state, party or sect, who kept their distance from the bloodthirsty Assad regime".

Fighting between Turkish-backed and Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria has left 218 people dead in just three days, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor reported on Tuesday.

The British-based monitor said that at least "218 members of pro-Kurdish forces and pro-Ankara factions were killed during three days of fighting in and around Manbij" where Turkish-backed factions launched an offensive. 

ONCUPINAR, Turkey — After eight years in exile, Ibrahim Abdullah is finally going home, his belongings stuffed into the same simple sports bag he carried when he fled Syria as a young teen. 

Just 13 at the time, Abdullah sneaked through the barbed wire along Syria's northern frontier to seek safety in neighbouring Turkey.

With the downfall of Bashar Al Assad, Abdullah is among thousands of Syrians going back. Bag in hand, he aims to find his childhood home in Aleppo, just days after an Islamist-led rebel offensive took the city and forced Assad to flee. 

"There's nothing valuable in it, just a few clothes," he told AFP pointing to his bag while waiting at the Oncupinar border crossing near the Turkish city of Gaziantep. 

Dressed in a blue-and-white checked shirt over a black hoodie, he arrived on a night bus from Istanbul which is home to around 500,000 of the three million Syrian refugees in Turkey. 

"It took 18 hours, then 10 minutes by taxi to get here," he explained, standing between two refugee families also heading back to Syria. 

Once across the border, the young man with floppy black hair and shaved temples will need at least another hour to reach Aleppo to the south. 

"My family has a home there. It's destroyed but I'm going to try and rebuild it," he said calmly, a mobile phone in his hand. 

His mother and four younger siblings have stayed in Istanbul where they live in Esenyurt, a district with a large Syrian community. 

"They will follow me in two or three months, but I'm not coming back," he said in accentless Turkish.

Fleeing the bombardments 

Between watching TikTok videos, he made calls to ensure a car will be waiting for him on the Syrian side of the border.

In the distance, a plume of black smoke curled into the air. 

Nobody knew the cause of the smoke but Abdullah did not seem bothered, confident that the guns have fallen silent. 

He did not recall much about crossing the border eight years ago. It was the height of the Syrian migration crisis when millions fled the intensive bombardment of Aleppo by government forces and their Russian allies. 

"But I know we left on foot and I was carrying this bag," he said. 

Since then he has been making shoes in an Istanbul factory and has not been to school.

His Istanbul memories would be of working-class neighbourhoods of the city, without once mentioning tourist highlights such as the Hagia Sophia, the Bosphorus or the Galata Tower.

In front of him, a metal gate leading to the final checkpoint before entering Syria briefly opened before quickly shutting again. Almost there but not quite.

Sitting on his bag, he fiddled with his Turkish residency card which has a white sticker with the number 157 on it. He was given the number on arrival at the border and it will be fed into the interior ministry's database. 

Will he keep hold of the card as a memory of his time in Turkey? 

"No, I'll have to give it back," he said. 

"After that, it's over."

CAIRO — Eight people were killed and three more injured when a six-story residential building collapsed in central Cairo on Tuesday, Egypt's health ministry said.

Nine ambulances were dispatched to the scene as rescuers continue to "lift rubble and search for any wounded or bodies", health ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said in a statement.

A restoration order had been issued in 1993 for the building, which was constructed in the 1960s in Cairo's lower-middle income Al-Waili neighbourhood, according to district head Ahmed Awad, state newspaper Al-Ahram reported.

But "the building's residents had appealed the order and it was not executed," the official said.

Neighbouring buildings were evacuated Tuesday as a precautionary measure, according to a statement from Cairo governorate.

A large number of the buildings in central Cairo have gone unrestored since they were built in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Greater Cairo — a sprawling metropolis home to over 26 million people -- has seen a number of deadly building collapses in recent years, both due the dilapidated state of some and, at times, failure to comply with building regulations.