Syria – live: Rebels vow to hunt down Assad’s torture henchmen as Israel condemned over military land grab
Israel has denied penetrating Syria beyond the buffer zone in the occupied Golan Heights
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Your support makes all the difference.The Syrian rebels who led the lightning insurgency which toppled the Assad dictatorship have vowed to reveal the names of regime officials wanted for torture.
“We will release a list that includes the names of the most senior officials involved in the torturing of the Syrian people,” said top rebel commander Ahmed al-Sharaa, better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, who is fronting the rebel coalition led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
“Rewards will be offered to those who will provide information about senior army and security officers involved in war crime.”
It comes as Israel vehemently denies that its troops are now 16 miles (25km) from Syrian capital Damascus, after reports emerged that it had breached the demilitarised buffer zone in the occupied Golan Heights.
An IDF official told The Independent that claims Israeli troops have advanced are “false” and that its troops are “stationed within the buffer zone”.
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes on military sites in Damascus, Daraa Latakia and Hama have killed two people and caused extensive damage to key military facilities, including research centres and weapons warehouses, according to UK-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
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Sniffer dogs search Saydnaya prison after Assad family regime toppled
Sniffer dogs search Saydnaya prison after Assad family regime toppled
Sniffer dogs searched Syria's Saydnaya prison following reports that there were prisoners trapped in underground cells, footage posted on social media on Monday (9 December) shows. The Syrian White Helmets rescue group confirmed to the Independent that there was no one left inside the prison. Farouq Habib, the group deputy general manager, said: “We made contact with former regime officers who worked on the prison and researched everything. There are no hidden cells in the prison. There has been a lot of rumors and misinformation, but nothing there. It came after dictator Bashar al-Assad's regime was toppled in a rebel offensive overnight on Sunday.
Syrian rebels say they won’t impose dress code on women
The armed rebels in Syria who overthrew Bashar al-Assad’s government last weekend say they will not impose a religious dress code on women.
“It is strictly forbidden to interfere with women’s dress or impose any request related to their clothing or appearance, including requests for modesty,” the Islamist rebel coalition said on social media.
Egypt slams Israel for seizing buffer zone in Syria
Egypt has denounced Israel’s seizure of the buffer zone with Syria and adjacent command sites after the fall of Syrian president Basad al-Assad’s regime.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he had ordered his ground forces to take control of the buffer zone established by a 1947 ceasefire agreement with Syria.
Egypt’s foreign ministry in a statement said the “occupation” of Golan Heights was a blatant violation of Syrian sovereignty.
The ministry accused Israel of exploiting Syria’s current instability to expand its territorial control violating international norms, Egypt Today reported.
How a lightning assault by Syrian rebels toppled Assad’s regime
How a lightning assault by Syrian rebels toppled Assad’s regime in under two weeks
Distracted by wars elsewhere, president Bashar al-Assad’s military allies Russia, Iran, and Lebanon’s Hezbollah failed to mobilise the kind of decisive firepower that had propped him up for years
Syrian rebels ask Assad’s security forces to register
The Syrian rebels led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham have called on security forces who worked for exiled president Bashar al-Assad to register with what they are calling “a settlement centre”.
The rebel coalition announced the opening of a “settlement centre for members of the criminal regime in Homs” after Assad’s regime fell and he reportedly fled to Russia.
“All Assad regime forces need to visit the centre to complete settlement procedures and receive a temporary ID before Saturday 14 December 2024,” a statement from the rebels read.
The officials will be required to provide documents, regime-issued equipment and official belongings or they will be prosecuted for providing incomplete information.
Top Syrian military officials charged with war crimes
Two top Syrian military officials have been reportedly charged with war crimes committed against people, including American nationals, at a heinous prison in Damascus during the Syrian civil war.
The US justice department has charged Jamil Hassan and Abdul Salam Mahmoud with a litany of human rights abuses, the New York Times reported, citing an indictment unsealed yesterday.
While the whereabouts of both officials were not known the US aims to hold to account those who were at the highest echelons of the Syrian government, it added.
According to the indictment, the officials “sought to terrify, intimidate and repress any opposition, or perceived opposition, to the regime”.
Mr Hassan was the head of the air force intelligence directorate, while Mr Mahmoud served as a brigadier general in the air force’s intelligence unit.
How Assad’s downfall could turn Syria into a new haven for extremists
How Assad’s downfall could turn Syria into a new haven for Islamist extremists
The US bombing of Syria so soon after the rebels toppled Assad suggests a nervousness from the West about what happens in the country next
Labour pledges ‘swift decision’ on lifting Syrian group ban
The UK government will make a swift decision on whether to lift the ban on Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) after it ousted president Bashar Assad’s regime, Labour’s Pat McFadden has said.
HTS is banned in the UK because of its past association with al Qaida, the terrorist organisation once led by Osama bin Laden.
More here.
US hostage envoy in Beirut to seek information on missing journalist Austin Tice
US hostage envoy in Beirut to seek information on missing journalist Austin Tice
The State Department says the U.S. government’s top hostage negotiator is in Beirut in hopes of collecting information on the whereabouts of Austin Tice, an American journalist missing in Syria for 12 years
Syrians crowd Assad’s most notorious prison in hunt for loved ones
Syrians crowd Assad’s most most notorious prison in hunt for missing loved ones
It comes as Britain says collapse of Assad is humiliation for Iran and Russia but doesn’t guarantee peace. Israel bombs chemical weapons facilities over fears of dangerous power vacuum
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