DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria’s prime minister stated Monday that the majority Cabinet ministers are nonetheless working from workplaces in Damascus after rebels entered the capital over the weekend and overthrew President Bashar Assad. Streams of refugees crossed in from neighboring international locations, hoping for a extra peaceable future.
But there have been already indicators of the difficulties forward for the insurgent alliance now in charge of a lot of the nation, which is led by a former senior al-Qaida militant who severed ties with the extremist group years in the past and has promised consultant authorities and spiritual tolerance.
Israel stated it’s finishing up airstrikes on suspected chemical weapons websites and long-range rockets to maintain them from falling into the palms of extremists. Israel has additionally seized a buffer zone inside Syria after Syrian troops withdrew.
In a separate growth, the Kremlin stated Russia has granted political asylum to Assad, a call taken by President Vladimir Putin. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to touch upon Assad’s particular whereabouts and stated Putin was not planning to fulfill with him.
In northern Syria, Turkey stated allied opposition forces seized the city of Manbij from Kurdish-led forces backed by the United States, a reminder that even after Assad’s departure to Russia the nation stays cut up amongst armed teams which have fought prior to now.
Damascus was quiet on Monday, with life slowly returning to regular whereas most outlets and public establishments have been closed. In public squares, some individuals have been nonetheless celebrating. Civilian visitors resumed however there was no public transport, leaving some to hitchhike. Long strains shaped in entrance of bakeries and different meals shops.
There was little signal of any safety presence, and Associated Press reporters noticed just a few SUVs on the aspect of a primary boulevard that appeared to have been damaged into, with their home windows shattered and their doorways open.
In some areas, small teams of armed males have been stationed within the streets. A video circulating on-line confirmed a person in army fatigues holding a rifle making an attempt to reassure residents of the Mezzeh neighborhood in Damascus that they might not be harmed.
“We don’t have anything in opposition to you, neither Alawite, nor Christian, nor Shiite, nor Druze, however everybody should behave effectively, and nobody ought to attempt to assault us,” the fighter stated.
Prime minister says the federal government continues to be operational
Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali, who remained in his submit after Assad and most of his high officers vanished over the weekend, has sought to venture normalcy.
“We are working in order that the transitional interval is fast and clean,” he instructed Sky News Arabia TV on Monday, saying the safety scenario had already improved from the day earlier than, when joyful crowds gathered in public squares and celebratory gunfire rang out throughout the capital.
He stated the federal government is coordinating with the insurgents, and that he’s prepared to fulfill insurgent chief Ahmad al-Sharaa, previously often called Abu Mohammed al-Golani, who made a triumphal look at a famed Damascus mosque on Sunday.
Syrians who solely days in the past have been working in any respect ranges of the paperwork in Assad’s regime have been now flipping to the brand new actuality.
At the court docket of Justice in Damascus, which was stormed by the rebels to free detainees, Judge Khitam Haddad, an aide to the justice minister within the outgoing authorities, stated Sunday that judges have been able to resume work shortly.
“We wish to give everybody their rights. We don’t their rights to be wasted,” Haddad instructed AP outdoors the courthouse. “We wish to construct a brand new Syria and to maintain the work however with new strategies.”
Meanwhile, a Syrian opposition warfare monitor stated a high aide to Assad’s brother, Maher, was discovered useless in his workplace close to Damascus. A video that circulated on social media purportedly confirmed Maj. Gen. Ali Mahmoud coated with blood and along with his garments burned. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated it was not clear if he was killed or died by suicide.
Maher Assad, whose whereabouts are unknown, led the military’s 4th Armored Division, which performed a serious function within the civil warfare that erupted in 2011, after a well-liked rebellion in opposition to Assad led to a violent crackdown on dissent and the rise of an insurgency.
Israel confirms it has struck suspected chemical weapons, rockets
Israelis have welcomed the autumn of Assad, who was a key ally of Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, whereas expressing concern over what comes subsequent. Israel says its forces briefly seized a buffer zone inside Syria relationship again to a 1974 settlement after Syrian troops withdrew within the chaos.
“The solely curiosity we have now is the safety of Israel and its residents,” Gideon Saar instructed reporters on Monday. “That’s why we attacked strategic weapons methods, like, for instance, remaining chemical weapons, or long-range missiles and rockets, so that they won’t fall within the palms of extremists.”
Saar didn’t present particulars about when or the place the strikes occurred.
An AP journalist in Damascus reported airstrikes within the space of the Mezzeh army airport, southwest of the capital, on Sunday. The airport has beforehand been focused in Israeli airstrikes. Strikes have been additionally heard within the capital on Monday.
Israel has carried out tons of of airstrikes in Syria lately, focusing on what it says are army websites associated to Iran and Hezbollah. Israeli officers hardly ever touch upon particular person strikes.
Syria agreed to surrender its chemical weapons stockpile in 2013, after the federal government was accused of launching an assault close to Damascus that killed tons of of individuals. But it’s broadly believed to have stored a few of the weapons and was accused of utilizing them once more in subsequent years.
Turkey says its allies have taken northern city
Officials in Turkey, which is the primary supporter of the Syrian opposition to Assad, say its allies have taken full management of the northern Syrian metropolis of Manbij from a U.S.-supported and Kurdish-led power often called the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF.
The SDF stated a Turkish drone struck within the village of al-Mistriha in jap Syria, killing 12 civilians, together with six youngsters.
Turkey views the SDF, which is primarily composed of a Syrian Kurdish militia, as an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkey. The SDF has additionally been a key ally of the United States within the warfare in opposition to the Islamic State group.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Monday expressed hope for a brand new period in Syria through which ethnic and spiritual teams can reside peacefully below an inclusive authorities. But he warned in opposition to permitting Islamic State or Kurdish fighters to benefit from the scenario, saying Turkey will forestall Syria from turning right into a “haven for terrorism.”
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Mroue reported from Beirut and Goldenberg from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press author Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report.
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