Ankara officially resumes contact with Damascus. A week after the flight of Bashar al-Assad and the fall of his regime, Turkey announced on Saturday December 14 that it wanted to reopen its embassy in Syria. The head of Turkish diplomacy, Hakan Fidan, reported open lines of communication with the new masters of Damascus, and announced that a head of mission had traveled to Damascus to open the representation. Turkey, which is gaining influence in the region, also says it has convinced Iran and Russia not to help Bashar al-Assad. Follow our live stream.
New Israeli strikes in Syria. Several attacks targeted military sites in Damascus and its suburbs early Saturday, almost a week after the capture of the Syrian capital by a coalition of rebels, reported the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH). Since the flight of deposed President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes against military sites in Syria, according to this UK-based NGO. The head of the Israeli government explained this week that the IDF was bombing the Assad regime’s weapons “so that they do not fall into the hands of jihadists”.
Celebrations across Syria on Friday. Several thousand people responded to the call of Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, leader of the coalition of rebels who overthrew the regime, by marching through several Syrian cities including Damascus, the capital. In a video, the man who now calls himself by his real name, Ahmad al-Chareh, “congratulated the Syrian people on the victory of the revolution”.
Germany assures Syrian refugees they remain “welcome”. “Anyone who works here, who is well integrated, is and remains welcome in Germany. This is obvious”declared Friday on Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Germany has around a million Syrians, most of whom arrived after the outbreak of civil war in 2011. Conservatives and the far right are calling for a return to their home country.
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