LIVE – Fall of Bashar al-Assad: Israel carried out around 250 strikes in Syria to destroy military sites

“Each time there have been destabilized regimes, regimes that have fallen, dictatorships overthrown, all of these phenomena have caused very significant migratory flows from these countries and towards the European Union,” warned Jordan Bardella. Questioned in the morning show on TF1, the president of the RN launched an appeal to all leaders “not to be amnesiac” and the European Union to “protect its borders and protect itself”. “I believe that the takeover of Islamist fundamentalists could cause very significant migratory flows tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.”

Iran condemns a “violation” of law after an incursion by the Israeli army into the Syrian Golan buffer zone. This territory, which separates Syria from Israel, is under UN control and supposed to be demilitarized under a 1974 agreement. “This aggression is a flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations,” blasted the spokesperson. words of Iranian diplomacy, Esmaïl Baghaï, in a press release.

Syrian rescuers end search operations in Saydnaya prison, where they suspect the existence of underground dungeons.

“The White Helmets announce the conclusion of search operations without having found any secret or hidden places” in this prison, they said in a press release. Thousands of people had gathered for two days around this prison, the scene of the worst abuses of the regime, waiting for news of their missing loved ones. Our on-site report can be found ici (new window).

Loud explosions rang out this morning at dawn in the Syrian capital, according to AFP journalists.

These raids from Israel aim “to destroy the remaining weapons in warehouses and military units which were controlled by the forces of the former regime”, estimated the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH).

The Israeli army had no immediate comment. Yesterday, however, Israel confirmed that it had destroyed “chemical weapons” in Syria in recent days to prevent them from falling into the hands of rebels, driven by “an extreme ideology of radical Islam.”

The Israeli army “destroyed the main military sites in Syria” by carrying out around 250 strikes against Syrian territory, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH). According to this organization, which relies on a vast network of sources across Syria, Israel has, among other things, bombed airports, radars, arms and ammunition depots, military research centers, and damaged Syrian navy ships.

The rebels intend to publish a list “of the highest officials involved in torture against the people”, according to their commander. “We will announce a number one list that includes the names of the highest officials involved in torture against the Syrian people,” Abu Mohammad al-Jolani wrote on his official Telegram channel, promising “rewards to anyone who provides information on the senior military and security officials implicated in war crimes.

“We will pursue war criminals and demand that they be handed over by the countries to which they fled so that they can receive their just punishment,” he also said.

While Western powers are calling for a democratic transition and rebels are seeking a “transfer of power”, researcher Didier Billion, doctor of political science and specialist in the Middle East, expresses his skepticism. Maintenance ↓

The Islamist leader of the rebels launched discussions on the transfer of power. The day after his entry into Damascus, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani discussed with the former Prime Minister to “coordinate the transition of power”, after Parliament and Bashar al-Assad's Ba'ath party gave their support to the transition, according to a rebel statement.

In a separate statement broadcast by state television, whose logo on Telegram now displays the rebel flag, an HTS official said that “security forces are working to secure government buildings and public and private facilities, and conduct patrols to ensure security in Damascus.

Syrian rebels claim to have found around 40 bodies with signs of torture in the morgue of a hospital near Damascus, piled up in body bags. AFP was able to see dozens of photographs and video footage of corpses showing clear signs of torture: torn eyes and teeth, blood spatters and bruises.

Taken by “surprise” by the fall of the regime, the members of the UN Security Council are currently waiting, according to ambassadors who participated in the closed-door meeting. “The Council, I think, was more or less united on the need to preserve the territorial integrity and unity of Syria, to ensure the protection of civilians, to ensure access for humanitarian aid,” Russian Ambassador Vassili Nebenzia told the press after this meeting requested by Moscow.

“No one expected the Syrian forces to fall like a house of cards,” added Deputy US Ambassador Robert Wood. “As many have said during the consultations, the situation is extremely fluid and will likely change on a day-to-day basis for now. So we need to see how this evolves.”

Lebanese Hezbollah condemned the intensification of Israeli air raids in Syria and assured that it “supported” the Syrian people, in its first comment since the rebels overthrew President Bashar al-Assad, an ally of the movement. In this press release, the pro-Iranian movement accuses Israel of “occupying more territories in the Golan Heights” and of “strike and destroy the defensive capabilities of the Syrian state”.

It was the symbol of the atrocities of the Assad regime: Sednaya prison. Here are the first images of what we nicknamed “the human slaughterhouse”. ↓

The United States says it is stepping up its efforts to gather information on an American journalist kidnapped in Syria in 2012, with the sending of an envoy to the region responsible for the release of the hostages. American envoy Roger Carstens arrived near Beirut with the mission of gathering information on Austin Tice, American officials said.

This independent journalist, who covered the war in Syria, was kidnapped in August 2012 in Daraya, a suburb of Damascus, where the army had carried out a search operation. He appeared in a video in September 2012, blindfolded, then aged 31. The identity of his captors remains unknown to this day and little information has been made public since his kidnapping.

Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz spoke yesterday and said they were “ready to cooperate with the new leaders” in Syria under conditions. “Both agreed that they were ready to cooperate with the new leaders, on the basis of fundamental human rights and the protection of ethnic and religious minorities,” according to the statement from the German chancellery. They again stressed “the importance of preserving the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Syria.”

The two leaders agreed to work together to strengthen the European Union's engagement in Syria, notably by supporting an “inclusive political process” in Syria, in close coordination with their Middle Eastern partners, Berlin adds.

Welcome to this live broadcast devoted to the situation in Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.