Jordan to host Syria talks amid transition in leadership

Jordan will host US, EU, Turkish and Arab diplomats for high level talks on Syria, a day after celebrations in Damascus and nationwide at the ousting of president Bashar al-Assad.

Syrians celebrated the day they called the ‘Friday of victory’ with fireworks welcoming the fall of the Assad regime.

More than half a century of brutal rule by his family came to an end on Sunday, after a rebel offensive swept across the country and took the capital.

Mr Assad’s fall has also led to fast-moving diplomatic developments, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken among envoys set to discuss Syria in the Jordanian city of Aqaba.

Meanwhile Turkey will reopen its embassy in Damascus, closed since 2012 amid calls by the country for Mr Assad to step down.

A Qatari diplomat said a delegation from the Gulf emirate would visit Syria tomorrow to meet transitional government officials to discuss aid and the reopening of their embassy.

Unlike other Arab states, Qatar never restored diplomatic ties with Mr Assad after a dispute in 2011.

Mr Assad fled Syria, closing an era in which suspected dissidents were jailed or killed, and capping nearly 14 years of war that killed more than 500,000 people and displaced millions.

Mohammad al-Jolani, head of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) which spearheaded the offensive, had called on Syrians “to go to the streets to express their joy”.

Celebrations continued into the night on the first Friday – the Muslim day of rest and prayer – since Mr Assad fled.

Umayyad Square in Damascus was filled with vehicles, people and waving flags as fireworks shot into the air, AFPTV live images showed.

Thousands gathered in the capital’s landmark Umayyad Mosque, some raising the three-star Syrian independence flag that none dared wave in the capital during Mr Assad’s rule.

Crowds also gathered in the squares and streets of other Syrian cities, including Homs, Hama and Idlib.

There was a festive and relaxed atmosphere as hundreds rallied in the main square of Syria’s second city Aleppo, a scene of fierce fighting during the country’s civil war, AFP correspondents said.

A huge billboard depicting Mr Assad and his father Hafez was set on fire.

Ahmad Abd al-Majed, 39, an engineer who returned to Aleppo from Turkey, said that many shed “tears of joy and happiness”.

“Syrians deserve to be happy,” he said.

Tens of thousands missing

Sunni Muslim HTS is rooted in Syria’s branch of Al-Qaeda and designated a terrorist organisation by many Western governments.

The group has sought to moderate its rhetoric and the interim government insists the rights of all Syrians will be protected – as will the rule of law.

The European Union is seeking “to establish contacts” with the new leaders soon, an EU official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The UN refugee agency said the new government had sent “constructive” initial signals, including asking the organisation to stay in the country.

Leaders of the G7 democratic countries, who met virtually yesterday, expressed hope for “a peaceful and orderly transition through the definition of an inclusive political process” in Syria.

Inside much of Syria, the focus is turning towards unravelling the secrets of Mr Assad’s rule, particularly the network of detention centres and suspected torture sites.

Syrians have descended upon prisons, hospitals and morgues in search of long-disappeared family and friends.

“I turned the world upside down looking,” Abu Mohammed told AFP as he searched for news of three missing relatives at the Mazzeh airbase in Damascus.

“We just want a hint of where they were,” he said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it documented more than 35,000 disappearances during Mr Assad’s rule, with the actual number likely far higher.

While Syrians celebrate the end of the regime, they face a struggle for necessities in a country impacted by war, sanctions and runaway inflation.

The EU announced yesterday the launch of an “air bridge” operation to deliver an initial 50 tonnes of health supplies via neighbouring Turkey.

Mr Assad was propped up by Russia – where a senior Russian official told US media he has fled – as well as Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told NTV television that his country had urged Russia and Iran not to intervene militarily “to ensure minimum loss of life”.

The rebels launched their offensive on 27 November, the same day a ceasefire took effect in the Israel-Hezbollah war, which saw Israel inflict massive losses on Mr Assad’s Lebanese ally.

Both Israel and Turkey, which backs some of the rebels who ousted Mr Assad, have since carried out strikes inside Syria.

Israel’s latest strikes hit military sites in the Eastern Qalamun region, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said.

Israel has also sent troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone that separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, in a move the UN said violated a 1974 armistice.

The military has been ordered to “prepare to remain” there throughout the winter, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz’s office said.