Syria – live: US man Travis Timmerman found alive after seven months in Syrian jail as Israel strikes ports
American Travis Timmerman was found by Syrian rebels, as Israel continues its bombardment around much of the country
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Your support makes all the difference.An American who was detained in Syria for seven months has been freed, as Syrian rebels scour areas once controlled by Bashar al-Assad’s now-deposed regime.
Travis Timmerman, from Missouri, was found when trying to find his own way out of Syria after being freed from a prison by Syrian rebels.
He was initially mistaken by some on social media to be American journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared in Syria in 2012.
Mr Timmerman was detained when he entered Syria without permission for “spiritual purposes” seven months ago, he told CBS News. He was freed by two armed men with AK-47s on Monday after a stretch in prison which “wasn’t too bad”.
Meanwhile, Israel continues its bombardment of Syria, as the country looks to build its post-Assad future.
Israeli warplanes “continue to destroy what remains of Syria’s military arsenal for the fourth consecutive day”, UK-based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
As of Wednesday, over 352 air strikes had been carried out in 13 Syrian provinces. This included attacks on warehouses, airports, and a naval fleet in a port on Latakia.
Israel says it is targeting military infrastructure to prevent it from falling into hostile hands.
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Syrian interim PM calls for refugees to return to restart the country
The interim prime minister of Syria says he wants to restore stability and security to the cities and bring back the millions of refugees “scattered around the world”.
In an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera, Muhammed al Bashir, the head of the so-called ‘Salvation Government’, listed his temporary administration’s top-three priorities, which also included planning for the delivery of essential services like food, water and electricity.
Mr Bashir said the return of Syrian refugees would help restart the country, appealing for citizens abroad to come back.
“Syria is now a free country that has regained its pride and dignity. Come back. We need to rebuild, to get our country on its feet again, and we need everyone’s help,” he said.
‘Our duty to support Syrian leaders’: Guterres
UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres says it is the duty of the intergovernmental body to support the leadership of Syria towards peace.
“It’s our duty to do everything to support different Syrian leaders to make sure that they come together,” he said during a visit to South Africa on Wednesday.
Western leaders have celebrated the ousting of Bashar al-Assad but are wary of the new administration that will replace him, with the leading rebel group HTS considered a terror group by the UK and US.
Antony Blinken to return to Middle East this week
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is returning to the Middle East this week, in his first visit since the removal of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
Mr Blinken will travel to Jordan and Turkey on Thursday and Friday for talks expected to focus largely on Syria but also touch on long-elusive hopes for a deal to end the fighting in Gaza that has devastated the territory since October 2023.
The visit also comes in the wake of the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, ending one element of the multi-pronged conflict plaguing the region.
The US State Department said Mr Blinken would meet Jordanian officials, including King Abdullah II, in the port city of Aqaba on Thursday before flying to Ankara for meetings with Turkish officials on Friday.
Other stops in the region are also possible, officials said.
Mr Blinken “will reiterate the United States’ support for an inclusive, Syrian-led transition to an accountable and representative government”, department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
UN chief Guterres says Assad’s ousting shows signs of hope
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said during a visit to South Africa on Wednesdy that there were some signs of hope from the end of the Syrian dictatorship.
Mr Guterres added after meeting South Africa’s foreign minister Ronald Lamola that the United Nations was totally committed to a smooth transition of power in Syria.
“I fully trust Syrian people to be able to choose their own destiny,” Guterres said.
His comments come after HTS, the rebel group that led the insurgency against Damascus, assured western leaders that their fears of chaos and extremist violence were unfounded.
German defence minister says Syria is a warning to Putin’s allies
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has warned that the toppling of the Assad regime demonstrates countries who sidle up to Russia can only rely on Moscow so long as they are of use to President Vladimir Putin.
Mr Pistorius made a stop-over at the Al-Azraq air base in Jordan on his way to Iraq, where he will discuss ways to help stabilise the region.
The minister said Germany’s military involvement in the Middle East, which include some 600 troops, would rather be ramped up following the weekend’s dramatic events.
Germany has had troops in Iraq since 2015 to assist local forces trying to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State which in 2014 seized large swaths of Iraq and Syria but was later pushed back.
Rebel leader warns Assad’s torturers will not be pardoned
The leader of the insurgency that toppled the Assad regime has warned the country’s new leadership will not pardon anyone involved in torturing and killing people imprisoned under the dictatorship.
In a statement published on Syrian state TV’s Telegram channel, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, said the new interim government would pursue the culprits in Syria and called on any countries harbouring them to return them to Syria.
“We will pursue them in Syria, and we ask countries to hand over those who fled so we can achieve justice,” he said.
After ousting Assad, rebels broke into prisons and security facilities to free political prisoners – and people who disappeared – in the years since civil war erupted in 2011.
Abu Mohammed al-Golani, who’s real name is Ahmad al-Sharaa, is the militant leader of HTS, who has spent years working to remake his public image by renouncing longtime ties to al-Qaida and depicting himself as a champion of pluralism and tolerance.
HTS is banned in the UK because of its past association with al Qaida, the terrorist organisation once led by Osama bin Laden.
On Monday the UK Government said it would make a swift decision on whether to lift the ban on Islamist group after it swept to power in Syria by ousting Assad’s regime.
Rebel fights burn tomb of Bashar al-Assad’s father
Rebel fighters have set fire to the tomb of Syria‘s former president Hafez Assad in his hometown in the country’s northwest.
A war monitor and a local journalist told AP of the insurgents’ actions on Wednesday, in the wake of the fall of the regime governed by Hafez Assad’s son, who fled to Russia on the weekend. Hafez Assad had ruled Syria for 30 years until his death in 2000, when Bashar succeded him.
Rebel fighters were photographed standing with the flag of the revolution on the burned grave site of the late former ruler.
‘We have no one here’: Syrian refugees return home from Turkey
Syrians lined up at the Turkish border on Wednesday to head home after rebels ousted Bashar al-Assad, speaking of their expectations for a better life following what was for many a decade of hardship in Turkey.
“We have no one here. We are going back to Latakia, where we have family,” said Mustafa, who only gave one name, as he prepared to enter Syria with his wife and three sons at the Cilvegozu border gate in southern Turkey.
Around 350 to 400 Syrians were already crossing back to rebel-held areas of Syria eah day this year before the opposition rebellion began two weeks ago. The numbers have almost doubled since.
Mustafa said he fled Syria in 2012, a year after the conflict there began, to escape conscription into Assad’s army. For years he did unregistered jobs in Turkey earning less than the minimum wage, he said.
“Now there’s a better Syria. God willing, we will have a better life there,” he said, expressing confidence in the new leadership in Syria as he watched over the family’s belongings, clothes packed into sacks and a television set.
Turkey, which hosts three million Syrians, has extended the opening hours of the Cilvegozu border gate near the Syrian city of Aleppo seized by rebels at the end of November.
Turkey has backed Syrian opposition forces for years but has said it had no involvement in the rebel offensive which succeeded at the weekend in unseating Assad after 13 years of civil war.
GCHQ head says too early to judge what’s happening in Syria
Anne Keast-Butler, the head of the UK’s intelligence agency GCHQ earlier told BBC Breakfast it was too early to judge the situation in Syria.
“That’s why we need to really monitor the situation, understand intent and direction, and make sure we can inform policy makers and other decision makers,” she said this morning.
Her comments follow a decision by the Home Office to pause decisions on Syrian asylum claims, and incendiary comments by foreign secretary David Lammy that Bashar al-Assad was the “rat of Damascus, fleeing to Moscow with his tail between his legs”.
European nations pause Syrian asylum claims
The Independent yesterday reported the UK paused decisions on Syrian asylum claims due to the uncertainty following the collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime.
Millions of Syrians fled the country after the outbreak of civil war and the Assad regime’s brutal crackdown on opponents.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The Home Office has paused decisions on Syrian asylum claims whilst we assess the current situation. We keep all country guidance relating to asylum claims under constant review so we can respond to emerging issues.”
The UK is not the only nation to do so, however. Here is what European countries have done:
Austria: Austria’s caretaker government on Monday ordered a stop to the processing of asylum applications by Syrians. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner told the ministry to prepare a programme of “orderly repatriation and deportation to Syria“.
Belgium: The Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons said on Monday it would temporarily suspend processing cases until it has sufficient information to assess the security situation in Syria and the risk of persecution.
Croatia: Croatia said on Tuesday it had temporarily suspended asylum applications from Syrians.
Denmark: Denmark paused processing applications on Monday and said Syrians whose applications had already been rejected, and who had been given a deadline to leave, would be allowed to remain longer due to the current uncertainty.
France: The interior ministry said on Monday it was working on a suspension of current asylum cases from Syria, with a decision expected shortly.
Germany: The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees on Monday put all applications from Syrian nationals on hold until further notice.
Netherlands: The Netherlands will withhold for six months decisions on applications it received less than 21 months ago, Asylum and Migration Minister Marjolein Faber said in a note on Monday.
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