Mother of Missing U.S. Journalist Austin Tice Meets With Syria’s New Transitional Leader About Efforts to Find Him
Tice was abducted in 2012; his mother Debra said Syria’s new leaders expressed determination to find Tice but that the upheaval of the recent rebel takeover made the search feel “like starting all over again” (NYT)
Six EU Countries Call for Temporary Lifting of Syria Sanctions
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain called for the European Union (EU) to lift sanctions in sectors including transportation, energy, and banking, according to a document seen by Reuters; they suggested a snapback sanctions mechanism in place of sanctions if Syria’s new government does not meet the bloc’s human rights expectations (Reuters)
The United States issued a sanctions exemption for Syria last week (Reuters)
Lebanese Prime Minister Holds First Meeting with Syria’s Transitional Leader
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called for coordination on border security and the return of more than one million Syrian refugees currently in Lebanon during his meeting with Ahmad al-Shara (Al Jazeera)
Last week, Syrian militants fired at Lebanese soldiers on the shared border, prompting a phone call between the two leaders; al-Shara said the Syrian authorities were working to restore calm (NYT)
Lebanese Prime Minister Calls for Border Security in Meeting with New Syrian Government
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called for joint work in regard to border security and the return of more than one million Syrian refugees currently in Lebanon during his first meeting with Syria’s transitional leader Ahmad al-Shara (Al Jazeera)
Last week, Syrian militants fired at Lebanese soldiers on the shared border, prompting a phone call between the two leaders; al-Shara said the Syrian authorities were working to restore calm. (NYT)
Biden Administration Opts Not to Lift Terrorist Designation on Syrian Rebel Group Running the Country’s Transitional Government
The designation affects the ease of lifting U.S. sanctions on Syria; the decision on whether to lift the designation will now fall on President-elect Trump when he assumes office (WaPo)
U.S. Treasury Issues Licenses for Aid to Syria
The Treasury Department will issue six-month waivers to allow humanitarian aid and essential supplies, including fuels, to reach the country; the move eased some restrictions previously in place on aid (WSJ)
However, the Biden administration left broad sanctions intact until more can be observed about the conduct of Syria’s new government (NYT)
Government Plans to Hike Public Sector Salaries by 400 Percent
The country’s caretaker finance minister said the pay raise was part of initial efforts to address the country’s economic crisis; the funding would come from a combination of state resources, regional aid, and the unfreezing of Syrian assets abroad (Reuters)
Syrian Delegation Visits Saudi Arabia in First Post-Assad Foreign Trip
Riyadh had begun re-engaging with Syria’s former leader Bashar al-Assad shortly before his ouster last month, but it has quickly embraced the victorious rebel government; Saudi Arabia sent three planes of humanitarian aid to Syria and called for the lifting of international sanctions on the country (FT)
Syrian Rebel Leader Holds Separate Talks With Jordan, Turkey
Jordan’s foreign minister became the highest-ranking envoy of an Arab country to meet with Syrian rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa today, offering support for Syria’s reconstruction (Reuters)
Yesterday, Turkey’s foreign minister also held a meeting with Sharaa, after which he called on the Syrian Kurdish militia known as the People’s Protection Units to disband; Washington has backed Kurdish fighters in their efforts against the self-declared Islamic State (Reuters)
U.S. Diplomats Visit Syrian Capital for First Time in Over Ten Years
The U.S. delegation, including the top State Department official for the Middle East and a hostage envoy, is meeting today with representatives of rebel group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham as well as activists and members of civil society and minority groups; they are discussing the country’s political transition as well as efforts to find and bring back Americans who disappeared in the Bashar al-Assad regime, including journalist Austin Tice (WaPo)
The visit of U.S. diplomats is the first to Syria since the United States closed its embassy in 2012 (AP)
Among the many factors that remain unclear about the transition is the fate of U.S. troops stationed in Syria; yesterday, the Defense Department disclosed the number of personnel there to be around two thousand, up from the nine hundred tally it has been citing for years (AP)
The troops were sent before Assad’s ouster to enhance operations against the self-declared Islamic State, a Pentagon spokesperson said (Reuters)
The United States in recent days has stepped up strikes against ISIS targets in Syria over concerns it could grow inside the country’s power vacuum; several governments, including the United States, stressed the importance of prohibiting the reemergence of terrorism in Syria at a recent meeting in Jordan (State Department)
White House Gave Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham List of Former Officials Who Might Have Information About American Journalist Austin Tice
The rebel group said it would help search for Tice, who was abducted in Damascus in 2012 (NYT)
International Envoys Call for Accountability, Aid, and Peace in Syria Amid Transition
UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen says that the war in Syria has not fully ended; in a testimony to the UN Security Council, he flagged the risk of ongoing fighting between armed groups in the country’s north (AFP)
A cease-fire between U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters and Turkish-backed forces in the town of Manbij was extended to the end of this week, Washington announced (NYT)
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said that continued combat could impede the flow of aid into Syria, where the UN refugee agency expects some one million refugees to return in the first six months of 2025 (Reuters)
An agency official called on countries not to force refugees to return; some three million refugees are in Turkey (UNHCR)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pledged more than $1 billion to support Syrian refugees in or returning from Turkey, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called for an upgrade to Turkey’s relationship with the European Union (Euronews)
Meanwhile, as mass graves in Syria have become accessible to outside investigators, the U.S. government, UN bodies, and human rights groups have begun compiling evidence on abuses under the Bashar al-Assad regime in order to seek accountability (Reuters)
Syrian Rebel Leader Meets With Foreign Journalists, Officials
The leader of the recent takeover of Syria called for international help in rebuilding the country in his first press conference; he has begun going by Ahmed al-Shara rather than his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Jolani (France24)
Al-Shara criticized Israel’s advance onto Syrian territory and Iranian militia activity, though he did not mention Russia; he said Syria’s future government would “not interfere in personal freedoms in a deep way” and had made contact with minority leaders (NYT)
French and German officials are in Damascus today, and the European Union plans to reopen its office there (AFP)
Hezbollah, Russia Show Signs Capabilities Diminished in Syria
Hezbollah’s leader acknowledged the group lost a military supply route from Iran through Syria in his first public comments since the fall of Syria’s leader, Bashar al-Assad (WSJ)
Following Assad’s upheaval, Russia has also evacuated at least four hundred troops from Damascus, an official from the Syrian rebel group that helped coordinate the withdrawal said (FT)
Israel Says Its Forces Will Remain in Seized Syrian Territory
Israel ordered its troops to prepare to remain in a formerly demilitarized buffer zone through the winter, saying they should do so until a new force can be established there (AFP)
Group of Seven (G7) leaders are meeting virtually today to discuss Syria’s transition (AFP)
Meanwhile, Russia made contact with Syrian rebels in hopes of keeping control of its bases in the country, the Russian news agency Interfax reported (Reuters)
Blinken Heads to Mideast for Talks on Syria’s Political Transition
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Jordan today and is due to continue on to Turkey in a flurry of diplomacy to encourage an “accountable and representative” new Syrian government after President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster, the State Department said (NYT)
Echoing a previous U.S. statement, the UN special envoy for Syria said yesterday that Syria’s political transition should be inclusive to avoid another civil war in the country (AFP)
Blinken’s priorities also include preserving gains against the self-declared Islamic State, he told a congressional hearing yesterday before heading east; U.S. President-elect Donald Trump posted on social media last week that Syria “is not our fight,” adding, “Let it play out” (VOA)
Washington has also called for a Syria free of chemical weapons (CNN)
Yesterday, Syrian rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani said his group was working with international organizations to identify and secure possible chemical weapons storage sites; a Pentagon spokesperson welcomed the rhetoric but said that “actions have to meet words” (BBC)
U.S. Would ‘Recognize and Fully Support’ Syrian Government via Inclusive Process
The new Syrian government should uphold minority rights, facilitate humanitarian aid, prevent the country from being a base for terrorism, and ensure destruction of chemical and biological weapons, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said (State Department)
Turkey-backed rebels and U.S.-backed Kurdish forces have been clashing in northern Syria, though U.S. mediation helped reach a cease-fire in Manbij, Kurdish-led forces said (Al-Monitor,NYT)
Israel carried out at least 350 air strikes across Syria this week so far, prompting calls for restraint from the special UN envoy to Syria and from Iraq and Saudi Arabia (WaPo)
Syrian Prime Minister Begins Talks on Transfer of Power
The prime minister of the ousted Bashar al-Assad government in Syria began talks yesterday on the transfer of power in the country, he said following a meeting with the leader of a rebel group based in Syria’s northwest (Reuters)
The composition of a transitional government remained unclear, though a man who led the rebel administration, Mohamed al-Bashir, said today in a televised statement that he would lead it (Reuters)
Rebels announced an amnesty to Syrian fighters who were conscripted, but rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani said senior officials in Assad’s government who were involved in torture would be punished (NYT)
In the thick of Syria’s uncertain transition, several countries including France, Germany, Greece, and the United Kingdom (UK) suspended applications for Syrian asylum seekers yesterday (BBC)
In the capital of Damascus, banks and shops began to reopen following the rebel takeover (Reuters)
Farther afield, Israel continued its strikes on Syrian army bases, while the United States continued strikes against the self-declared Islamic State (BBC).
Syrians and World Leaders Weigh the Aftermath of Assad’s Lightning Downfall
The ousting of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over the weekend stunned Syrians and international observers alike, who saw the government crumble without a fight as rebel forces advanced on Damascus; Assad fled to Russia, rebels began freeing people from a major prison in Damascus, and refugees began traveling back to the country (NYT)
Rebel groups have called for police and civilian authorities to stay in their posts until a new government is announced, but much remains unclear about its potential composition (Economist)
The sudden end to more than fifty years of rule by the Assad family left foreign powers scrambling to respond to upended security dynamics in the country (AP)
Washington carried out air strikes against the self-declared Islamic State over the weekend, wary of its potential resurgence (WaPo)
Israel deployed troops onto Syrian territory in a move it described as trying to shore up defenses (WaPo)
The rebel group that led the offensive, Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), is classified as a terrorist organization by the United States but has tried to spread a message of moderation in recent weeks (BBC)
U.S. President Joe Biden said yesterday that Washington was closely watching the rebels’ actions, not only their words; he called this “a moment of historic opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria to build a better future for their proud country” (Reuters)
Assad Regime Falls; Rebels Take Damascus
On Sunday, Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow amid a successful rebel offensive (AP)
Rebel forces, led by Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army, took control of Damascus following their capture of strategic cities Aleppo, Hama, and Homs since November 30 (NYT)
The HTS-led coalition freed Assad regime prisoners from prisons such as Sednaya, a well-known military facility outside of Damascus, throughout the offensive as they seized new territory (PBS)
In the aftermath of the fall of Damascus, the Israel Defense Forces crossed the demilitarized zone on the Israel-Syria border and took control of territory in the Golan Heights (BBC)
Syrian Rebels Capture Second Major City as Offensive Rolls Forward
Rebel forces captured Syria’s fourth-largest city of Hama yesterday, advancing their week-old offensive despite efforts by Syria and its ally Russia to head them off; Syria’s army announced it had withdrawn from the city (WaPo)
Syria’s additional backers Iran and Hezbollah have consulted with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on how they could shore up his position as the fighters now move toward the city of Homs, a frontier of an area critical to the government; meanwhile, the head of a U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish force told reporters yesterday that the self-declared Islamic State group had taken control of some areas in Syria’s east (Reuters)
The leader of the main group driving the rebel offensive, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, told CNN yesterday that he aimed to overthrow Assad; Jolani leads Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham, a group that split from al-Qaeda in recent years and that the United States classifies as a terrorist organization (CNN)
Thousands of people began fleeing from Homs beginning last night, the British monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said (BBC)
Syrian Military, Rebels Battle Near City of Hama
The two sides clashed around three miles northeast of the city of Hama, state media and the United Kingdom-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said; Russian and Syrian air strikes on rebel-held areas of northwest Syria have continued in recent days, with residents and rescue workers saying residential areas and medical facilities were hit (Reuters)
Russia, Syria Conduct Air Strikes in Syria After Surprise Rebel Advance
The Syrian military and its ally Russia struck targets in northwestern Syria overnight in an effort to retaliate for a shock rebel advance that has upended the country’s thirteen-year civil war; the rebel push comes as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s backers Hezbollah and Russia were embroiled in other conflicts (Reuters)
Battle lines in the war had been largely static since 2020, but rebel forces captured much of the city of Aleppo over the weekend and said they controlled all of the country’s Idlib province (NYT)
The United States, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom said in a joint statement yesterday that they were closely monitoring the situation in Syria and urged de-escalation by all parties (State Department)
The surge in fighting in Syria has also prompted fighters from Iran-backed Iraqi militias to cross into the country (AP)
Former al-Qaeda affiliate group Ha’yat Tahrir al-Shama appears to be playing a protagonist role among the rebels (BBC)
Some of the rebels are also backed by Turkey, which has been frustrated by delays in talks with Syria about the return of Syrian refugees (NYT)
Syrian Rebel Forces Advance to Aleppo
Anti-government forces based in northwestern Syria conducted a surprise offensive this week; as of Saturday, the rebels were in control of most of Aleppo, the country’s largest city, as well as parts of the Aleppo, Idlib, and Hama provinces (NYT)
The rebel forces, led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, seized an international airport and a major highway during the operation (AP)
Russia’s military announced that it carried out airstrikes in support of the Syrian government during the offensive, while Turkey and the United States have previously backed certain anti-government groups; a U.S. National Security Council spokesperson urged de-escalation (Reuters)
Israel Strikes Targets in Syria
Israeli strikes in and around the Syrian capital of Damascus killed at least fifteen people, Syrian state media reported; Israel said it was targeting the Islamic Jihad militant group (AP)