Region

-UN says Israel bombardment of Syria 'must stop'

-Syria defence research centre, navy ships destroyed after strikes

DAMASCUS — The rebels who ousted president Bashar al-Assad and are now in power in Syria appointed a transitional head of government Tuesday to run the country until March 1, a statement said.

"The general command has tasked us with running the transitional government until March 1," said a statement attributed to Mohammad al-Bashir on state television's Telegram account, referring to him as "the new Syrian prime minister".

Assad fled Syria as an Islamist-led rebel alliance swept into the capital Damascus on Sunday, ending five decades of rule by his clan.

Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS) leader, who headed the offensive that forced Assad out, had announced talks on a transfer of power and vowed to pursue former senior officials responsible for torture and war crimes.

HTS is rooted in Syria's Al-Qaeda branch and is proscribed by many Western governments as a terrorist organisation, though it has sought to moderate its rhetoric.

The UN envoy for Syria said the groups that forced Assad to flee must transform their "good messages" into actions on the ground.

"They have been sending messages of unity, of inclusiveness," Geir Pedersen said, adding that in Aleppo and Hama, "we have also seen... reassuring things on the ground".

But "what we need not to see is of course that the good statements and what we are seeing on the ground at the beginning, that this is not followed up in practice in the days and the weeks ahead of us."

The civil war that led up to it killed 500,000 people and forced half the country to flee their homes, millions of them finding refuge abroad.

The country now faces profound uncertainty after the collapse of a government that had run every aspect of daily life.

 Thousands missing 

The fall of Assad has sparked a frantic search by families of the tens of thousands of people held in his security services' jails and detention centres.

As they advanced towards Damascus, the rebels released thousands of detainees, but many more remain missing. 

A large crowd gathered Monday outside Saydnaya jail, synonymous with the worst atrocities of Assad's rule, to search for relatives, many of whom had spent years in captivity there, AFP correspondents reported.

"I'm looking for my brother, who has been missing since 2013. We've looked everywhere for him, we think he's here, in Saydnaya," said 52-year-old Umm Walid.

"Since Bashar is gone, I'm optimistic. The fear is over."

Crowds of freed prisoners wandered the streets of Damascus, many maimed by torture, weakened by illness and emaciated by hunger.

Neighbouring Lebanon and Jordan welcomed home detainees who had been held in Syria for decades.

The United Nations said that whoever ended up in power in Syria must hold Assad and his lieutenants to account. 

How the ousted leader might face justice remains unclear, but UN investigators who for years have been gathering evidence of horrific crimes called Assad's ouster a "game-changer" because they will now be able to access "the crime scene".

While Syrians were celebrating Assad's ouster, the country now faces enormous uncertainty, and it is unclear whether the dreams of democracy so many sacrificed their lives for will be realised.

Concerns about sectarian violence have also surfaced, though HTS has sought to reassure religious minorities they will be safe in the new Syria.

Strikes 

Further complicating prospects, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had recorded more than 300 Israeli strikes on the country since Assad's fall.

Pedersen, the UN special envoy for Syria, called on Israel to stop.

"We are continuing to see Israeli movements and bombardments into Syrian territory. This needs to stop. This is extremely important," he said.

AFP journalists in Damascus heard loud explosions on Tuesday but could not independently verify the source or scope of the attacks.

On Monday, Israel said it had struck "remaining chemical weapons or long-range missiles and rockets in order that they will not fall in the hands of extremists".

The Observatory, which relies on a network of sources around Syria, said Israeli strikes had "destroyed the most important military sites in Syria".

The group said the strikes targeted weapons depots, naval vessels and a research centre that Western governments suspected of having links to chemical weapons production.

In the port city of Latakia, smoke was still rising Tuesday from the wreckage of naval vessels half under water in the harbour, an AFP correspondent reported.

Israeli defence minister Israel Katz confirmed that the military had been operating in Syria in recent days to "destroy strategic capabilities that threaten the State of Israel". 

"The navy operated last night to destroy the Syrian fleet with great success," he said.

 'Sterile defence zone' 

Israel, which borders Syria, also sent troops into the UN-patrolled buffer zone east of the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

The defence minister said the military had orders to "establish a sterile defence zone free of weapons and terrorist threats in southern Syria, without a permanent Israeli presence."

Israel backer the United States said the incursion must be "temporary", after the United Nations said Israel was violating the 1974 armistice.

Assad spent years suppressing rebellion using everything in his means, including air strikes and even chemical weapons, but he was ultimately deposed in a lightning offensive that lasted less than two weeks.

DAMASCUS/ BEIRUT — Syria's parliament said Monday it supports the will of the people to build a new country, a day after President Bashar Al Assad left Damascus as rebels took over.

"December 8th was a historic day in the lives of all Syrians. We support the will of the people to build a new Syria towards a better future governed by law and justice," parliament, formerly pro-Assad, said in a statement carried by SANA -- the state news agency whose logo on Telegram now bears the three stars of the rebel flag.

Meanwhile, a Syria war monitor said Monday that overnight Israeli strikes targeted military positions and depots in several parts of the country, after rebels ousted president Bashar Al Assad.

"Since the initial hours after the announcement of the fall of the former regime, Israel began launching intensive air strikes, deliberately destroying weapons and ammunitions depots," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The targets of the overnight strikes included "air defence weapons depots and ammunition depots" belonging to the Syrian military in the coastal Latakia and Tartus provinces, said the Observatory.

The Britain-based monitor, which has a network of sources inside Syria, said Israel also launched strikes in the country's south targeting Tal Al Hara near the Israeli-annexed Syrian Golan Heights, and military positions in Izraa, in Daraa province.

Further Israeli strikes destroyed warehouses holding "anti-tank weapons" in the Qalamoun area in the Damascus countryside, the Observatory added. 

Since Syria's civil war erupted in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in the country, mainly targeting the army and Iran-backed groups. 

Israel rarely comments on individual strikes in Syria but has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to expand its presence in the country.

The overnight raids came after the Observatory said Israeli strikes on Sunday hit a security compound of military, intelligence and customs buildings in the city of Damascus.

It said Israeli strikes also hit elsewhere including army positions and weapons depots near the Mazzeh military airport on the city's outskirts.

The Observatory also said Israel on Sunday "bombed former military sites" in southern Syria's Quneitra province.

It also said "ground forces penetrated... and took control of former regime force observation points" in the Mount Hermon area, further north closer to the Lebanese border.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he had ordered the Israeli military to "seize" a demilitarised buffer zone on the border with Syria after Assad's overthrow, while Israel's military imposed a curfew for residents of five Syrian towns in the area.

The Israeli leader said a 50-year-old "disengagement agreement" between the two countries had collapsed and "Syrian forces have abandoned their positions".

As a result, he said, "I directed the military yesterday to seize the buffer zone and the commanding positions nearby. We will not allow any hostile force to establish itself on our border."

Israel seized much of the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and later annexed it in a move largely unrecognised by the international community.

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Monday the takeover of the buffer zone was a "limited and temporary step".

BRUSSELS, Belgium — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday the ceasefire in Lebanon was "holding" despite a series of incidents between Israel and Iran-backed militants Hizbollah.

"The ceasefire is holding, and we're using the mechanism that was established when any concerns have arisen about any alleged or purported violations," Blinken told journalists on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in Brussels.

Both Israel and Hizbollah face accusations of having breached the truce that took effect last Wednesday to end a war that has killed thousands in Lebanon and sparked mass displacements on both sides.

"I think fundamentally, both parties, that is to say Israel and Hezbollah, through the Lebanese government, wanted and continue to want the cease fire," said Blinken.

"But we have to make sure that it's upheld. And we're determined to do that," he added.

A committee including France, UN peacekeepers, Israel, Lebanon and chaired by the United States is tasked with maintaining communication between the various parties and ensuring violations are identified and dealt with to avoid any escalation.

"The mechanism that we established with France to make sure that the ceasefire is effectively monitored and implemented is working, and we want to make sure it continues to work," Blinken said.

"If there are concerns that one party or the other is violating the ceasefire, it comes to us, and one way or another, we engage the parties. That's exactly what's happened," he added.

Israel stepped up its campaign in south Lebanon in late September after nearly a year of cross-border exchanges by Hizbollah.