Syria updates: Explosions in Damascus as Israel carries out more strikes

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For more on the scenes of celebration across Syria, where people have taken to the streets to rejoice over President al-Assad’s ouster, see our story here.

And for an expert discussion on what comes next for Syria – and what challenges face the country’s new authorities – see our video here.

We are going to bring our live coverage to an end soon. Here’s a summary of the latest developments:

• A series of explosions have been heard in Damascus, our correspondent says, as Israel has been striking “strategic areas” across Syria, particularly in and around the capital.
• Citing an unnamed source, Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency reports that Moscow is negotiating with representatives of Syria’s new authorities “on maintaining its presence in Syria and the previous status of Russian military bases in Tartous and Latakia”.
• The Arab League has issued a resolution condemning Israel’s seizure of a buffer zone in Syrian territory and said the Arab countries have approached the UN Security Council to hold a session on Israel’s actions against Syria.
• Jordan is set to host a summit to coordinate a response to the situation in Syria, including humanitarian relief, security, and the road to recovery, reconciliation and democratic rule.
• Tens of thousands of Syrians have gathered at the Umayyad Mosque for the first Friday prayers since the toppling of former President al-Assad, with many more pouring into the streets across the country in celebration.

Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP), warned that Syria is facing the fallout from a 13-year civil war, a surge in arrivals from the Israel-Hezbollah war in neighbouring Lebanon, and the unexpected removal of longtime ruler al-Assad.

“It’s a triple crisis, and the needs are going to be massive,” he told The Associated Press.

Skau said even before the current crisis, more than three million people faced acute food shortages in Syria, but the WFP was only able to provide aid to two-thirds of those due to funding cuts.

While the situation in Syria’s largest city Aleppo is “quite calm and orderly”, Skau said there’s still uncertainty in Damascus, where markets are disrupted, currency values have dropped, food prices are rising and transport isn’t operational.

The doors of Damascus were closed to the opposition for more than a decade. But now, with them in charge, hundreds of thousands came to celebrate their victory in the city’s largest and oldest mosque, the Umayyad.

Welcomed by coffee and Syria’s new flag, with a green stripe and another star, Syrians said it was a new day.

Delivering a speech to the people gathered for Friday prayer, Syria’s new PM was hopeful about the future. Syrians have been calling this day ‘Victory Friday’ and celebrated across the country.

Many here say this is the joy and freedom they have long waited for. Half a century of living under the al-Assad family and 13 years of civil war devastated the economy, and much of the country, and killed nearly half a million people. Now, the hope here is that the new administration will unite communities and build a new Syria.

As we’ve been reporting, hundreds of thousands of jubilant Syrians poured onto the streets across the country earlier today, after the first Friday prayers since the fall of al-Assad’s government.

Thousands flocked to the capital’s landmark Umayyad Mosque, some raising the three-star Syrian independence flag, which none dared wave in the capital during Assad’s repressive rule. Exhilarated crowds chanted, “The Syrian people are one!”

There was a festive and relaxed atmosphere as hundreds rallied in the main square of Syria’s second-largest city, Aleppo, a scene of fierce fighting during the country’s civil war.

“We feel like a free butterfly. For 13 years, we have felt like our country was stolen from us. Today, we feel this is our country, and we have our rights,” Ruba, a Damascus resident, told Al Jazeera.

For some, it is a bittersweet day as they remember the losses of the past.

“Our joy is mixed with sadness. The regime arrested me first and then my three sons. I am free now, but they are still missing. I don’t know where they are if they are alive,” said Khadija Adnan Hala.

The White Helmets civil defence group has said hundreds of thousands of landmines and exploded ordnance are scattered across Syria.

In a post on Telegram, the group said its teams carried out more than 200 removal operations between November 26 and December 12, during which 491 unexploded ordnance were removed and destroyed.

The White Helmets also provided dozens of information sessions to Syrians returning to their homes and communities.

“We remind our Syrian people of the dangers of approaching strange objects or unexploded ordnance,” the group said, adding that residents should contact them if they find anything suspicious.

As Bashar al-Assad was toppled, Syrians in Syria and abroad celebrated by replacing the flag of the regime with the flag adopted by opposition groups.

The regime flag’s red fess is replaced with green and three red stars represent the three main districts of Syria: Aleppo, Damascus and Deir Az Zor.

Family members of thousands of missing Syrians are searching for their relatives believed to have been held in prisons run by the al-Assad regime.

Some have been looking at ID cards that have been scattered across a military airbase in the capital Damascus.

Listen to the full report:

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan says a newly appointed interim charge d’affaires has left for the Syrian capital together with his delegation.

“It will be operational as of tomorrow,” Fidan said in an interview with NTV television of the embassy.

The Turkish embassy in Damascus had suspended operations in 2012 due to the deteriorating security situation. All embassy staff and their families were recalled to Turkiye.

The German chancellor has put out a video message in part addressing Syrians in the country – the largest Syrian Diaspora community outside of the Middle East.

“Many Syrians have successfully put down roots here in Germany. Some 5,000 Syrian doctors are working in our hospitals alone,” Scholz said in the clip posted on X.

“Some statements made in recent days have deeply unsettled our fellow citizens of Syrian origin. So what I want to tell you today is this: Anyone who is working here, anyone who is well integrated, is and will remain welcome in Germany. That goes without saying,” the German leader said.

“Some of the refugees hope that they will soon be able to return to their homeland. We will support that, too, as soon as the situation allows,” Scholz continued.

Germany is home to more than 1 million Syrians, many of whom fled the war in their home country.

Huriyah! Freedom! – This cry echoed through Syria and many German cities. After all the suffering, all Syrians deserve a life in freedom and security. We are working with our partners to realise their hope: freedom for their homeland at last! pic.twitter.com/YxpT4eY3T9

— Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz (@Bundeskanzler) December 13, 2024

Turkiye says it had urged Russia and Iran not to intervene militarily to support al-Assad’s forces as the opposition mounted its lightning advance on Damascus that ended with the Syrian strongman’s ouster this month.

“The most important thing was to talk to the Russians and Iranians to ensure that they didn’t enter the equation militarily. We had meetings with the Russians and Iranians, and they understood,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said in an interview with Turkiye’s private NTV television.

Russia appears to be packing up military equipment at a military airbase in Syria, according to satellite images released by Maxar.

The images taken on Friday show what appear to be at least two Antonov AN-124s, one of the world’s largest cargo planes, with their nose cones open at the Hmeimim airbase in Syria’s coastal Latakia province.

“Two An-124 heavy transport aircraft are at the airfield – both with their nose cones lifted and prepared to load equipment/cargo,” Maxar said. “Nearby, a Ka-52 attack helicopter is being dismantled and likely prepared for transport while elements of an S-400 air defence unit are similarly preparing to depart from its previous deployment site at the air base.”

Earlier, our colleagues on the ground reported that hundreds of armoured vehicles flying Russian flags are travelling on the Damascus-Homs highway towards the Syrian coast.

They added that Russian forces in central and southern Syria gathered in Qudssaya near Damascus before the fall of the regime and are now withdrawing to the Hmeimim airbase and the port of Tartous.

Sarah Kassim is one of many Syrians looking for missing loved ones.

She records her search for her uncle, who had been locked away in one of Bashar al-Assad’s prisons.

Watch the video below for her story:

Euphoria as Syrians celebrate their new-found freedom in public squares across their liberated country.

Diplomats, meanwhile, are scrambling to catch up with the regional and international aftershocks of al-Assad’s downfall.

Jordan is due to host a summit to coordinate a response to Syria’s immediate needs. On the agenda will be humanitarian relief, security and Syria’s precarious road to recovery, reconciliation and democratic rule.

Stability in Syria is a goal everyone attending the summit agrees on but not necessarily how to secure it.

The US and EU are being cautious towards the new administration, saying they want to judge actions, not words.

Absent from the meeting are the Syrians whose breathtaking victory has changed the geopolitics of this volatile region. What happens in Aqaba will affect them immediately and strategically. The challenge for them now is how to safely manoeuvre through all those agendas to get the job of Syrian recovery done.

The European Commission president has said she agrees with those who have called for the creation of preconditions that would allow “for a safe and dignified return of refugees” to Syria.

“The transition needs to protect all minorities,” von der Leyen also said during a virtual meeting with the leaders of G7 nations to discuss the situation in the country.

As we’ve been reporting over the past days, several European countries have already signalled plans to freeze Syrian asylum claims following the overthrow of al-Assad’s government.

Earlier, Austria said it would offer Syrian refugees a “return bonus” of 1,000 euros ($1,049) to return to their home country.