Middle East crisis live: rebel leader urges Syrians to take to the streets to celebrate ‘revolution’
Leader of Islamist rebels that ousted Assad says people should ‘express their joy’ after Friday prayers
The leader of the Islamist rebels that seized power in Syria last week has called on people to take to the streets to celebrate what he described as “the victory of the blessed revolution” on Friday.
In a video message shared on Telegram, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, who is now using his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, called on people to “go to the streets to express their joy”.
The US secretary of state, Anthony Blinken, is wrapping up a visit to Turkey as part of a broader effort to rally support across the Middle East for a peaceful political transition in Syria. The US administration is worried that a power vacuum in Syria could worsen tensions in the region, already heightened by multiple conflicts, and create conditions for the Islamic State group to regain territory and influence.
Blinken said Friday that there’s broad agreement on what both Turkey and the US would like to see in Syria following concerns about the two NATO allies’ competing interests in Syria, as Turkey targets a US-backed Kurdish group seen as key to containing the extremists.
Blinken also said he saw “encouraging signs” of progress toward a ceasefire in Gaza and urged Turkey to use its influence to encourage Hamas to accept. “We discussed Gaza, and we discussed I think the opportunity... to get a ceasefire in place. And what we’ve seen in the last couple of weeks are more encouraging signs that that is possible,” Blinken told reporters.
G7 leaders are set to gather virtually on Friday afternoon to discuss Syria. The leaders have said they are prepared to support a transition to an “inclusive and non-sectarian” government, and emphasised “the importance of holding the Assad regime accountable for its crimes.”
Russia has also reportedly established direct contact with the political committee of Syria’s Islamist rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, according to the Interfax news agency, which quoted Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Bogdanov. In comments to reporters, Bogdanov reportedly said Moscow aims to maintain its military bases in Syria.
Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, has ordered the military to “prepare to remain” throughout the winter in the UN-patrolled buffer zone between Israeli and Syrian forces on the strategic Golan Heights. Israel seized the demilitarised zone on Sunday, hours after Syrian rebels ousted Bashar al-Assad.
In the US, a former Syrian military official who oversaw a prison where alleged human rights abuses took place has been charged by a federal grand jury with several counts of torture and conspiracy to commit a crime. Samir Ousman al-Sheikh, who oversaw Syria’s infamous Adra Prison from 2005 to 2008 under recently ousted President Bashar Assad, was arrested in July on visa fraud charges.
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