DAMASCUS: Syrians strolled through the palaces of President Bashar Assad on Sunday following his sudden ouster, wandering from room to room, posing for photographs, and with some taking away items of furniture or ornaments.
Video obtained by Reuters showed people entering the Al-Rawda Presidential Palace, as children ran through the grand, formal rooms and men slid a large trunk across the ornate patterned floor.
Several men marched out of the building carrying chairs over their shoulders. In a storeroom, cupboards had been ransacked and objects strewn across the floor.
Video of another palace, the older-style Muhajjreen Palace, verified by Reuters, showed groups of men and women walking across a white marble floor and through sets of tall wooden doors. A man carried a vase in his hand, and a large cabinet stood empty with its doors ajar. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling.
The scenes were reminiscent of the fall of Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime in Iraq two decades ago. Then, Iraqis saw the extravagant luxury of his palaces where the bathrooms were famously fitted with gold taps.
Syrian militants seized control of Damascus on Sunday, forcing Assad to flee and ending his family’s decades of rule after more than 13 years of civil war in a seismic moment for the Middle East.
Another video verified by Reuters showed militants firing celebratory shots at the entrance gate to the New Shaab Palace (Peoples’ Palace), a vast complex on the western edge of Damascus that sits atop Mount Mazzeh.
“The army of Islam (the militants) is in the presidential palace. God is great, we have seized control of it,” said one of the militants. The group then filmed their walk through the deserted grounds and the stark, monumentalist architecture of the palace.
Assad, who had not spoken in public since the sudden militant advance a week ago, flew out of Damascus for an unknown destination earlier on Sunday, two senior army officers told Reuters, as militants said they had entered the capital with no sign of army deployments.
Russia, one of Assad’s closest allies, confirmed that Assad had left Syria but did not say where he was, including whether Moscow had given him refuge.
Syrians stroll through Assad’s palaces, take furniture and ornaments
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Syrians stroll through Assad’s palaces, take furniture and ornaments
- The scenes were reminiscent of the fall of Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime in Iraq two decades ago
- Video obtained by Reuters showed people entering the Al-Rawda Presidential Palace
Syria’s new government says to suspend constitution, parliament for three months
- Mohammed Al-Bashir named as the country’s transitional prime minister until March 1
“A judicial and human rights committee will be established to examine the constitution and then introduce amendments,” Obaida Arnaout said.
The current constitution dates back to 2012 and does not specify Islam as the state religion.
Militants led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham seized the capital Damascus on Sunday, sending Assad fleeing into exile.
On Tuesday, they named Mohammed Al-Bashir, who headed the militants’ self-proclaimed “Salvation Government” in their northwestern bastion of Idlib, as the country’s transitional prime minister until March 1.
Arnaout said a meeting would be held on Tuesday “between Salvation Government ministers and the former ministers” of Assad’s administration to carry out the transfer of power.
“This transitional period will last three months,” he added in an interview with AFP. “Our priority is to preserve and protect institutions.”
Speaking at the state television headquarters, now seized by the new militant authorities, Arnaout pledged that they would institute “the rule of law.”
“All those who committed crimes against the Syrian people will be judged in accordance with the law,” he added.
Asked about religious and personal freedoms, he said “we respect religious and cultural diversity in Syria,” adding that they would remain unchanged.
The Sunni majority country was ruled with an iron fist by Assad, a follower of the Alawite offshoot of Shiite Islam who sought to project himself as a protector of minority communities.
Syria’s new government thanks countries that reopened missions
- Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, the UAE, Jordan, Bahrain, Oman and Italy resumed activities of their diplomatic missions in Damascus
- The militant offensive stunned the world and brought an end to more than a half a century of brutal rule by the Assad clan
DAMASCUS: Syria’s new government thanked eight countries on Thursday for swiftly reviving their diplomatic missions after a lightning militant offensive ousted president Bashar Assad at the weekend.
The offensive, which took less than two weeks to sweep across Syria and take the capital Damascus, stunned the world and brought an end to more than a half a century of brutal rule by the Assad clan.
The militants, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), appointed an interim prime minister on Tuesday to lead the country until March.
The new government’s department of political affairs issued a statement thanking Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain, Oman and Italy “for resuming the activities of their diplomatic missions in Damascus.”
Italy had reopened its embassy in Damascus before Assad’s fall.
After the militants took Damascus, an “armed group” entered the residence of Italy’s ambassador in Damascus and stole three cars, the Italian government said on Sunday.
The new government also said it had received “direct promises” from Qatar and Turkiye “to reopen their embassies in Syria” adding it hoped to “build good relations with all countries that respect the will of the people, the sovereignty of the Syrian state.”
Many embassies had shut their doors as militants advanced toward Damascus.
Gulf states had severed diplomatic ties with Syria, closing their embassies in the aftermath of Assad’s brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 2011 that triggered the civil war.
Most have restored relations since 2018, with the exception of Qatar.
Qatar announced on Wednesday it would “soon” reopen its embassy in Damascus, closed in 2011.
The move aimed to “strengthen the close historical fraternal ties between the two countries,” Qatar’s foreign ministry said.
The Gulf country also sought to “enhance coordination with relevant authorities to facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid currently provided by Qatar to the Syrian people” via an air bridge, it added.
Doha had supported opposition factions early in the war and remained a fierce critic of Assad while also calling for a diplomatic solution.
Turkiye has backed some Syrian militant groups since the start of the civil war.
The war killed more than 500,000 people and forced half the population to flee their homes, with six million of them seeking refuge abroad.
Ireland to ask ICJ to widen genocide definition over Gaza war
- Dublin ‘concerned’ that ‘narrow interpretation’ leading to ‘culture of impunity’
- Amnesty International, which accuses Israel of genocide, hails move as ‘glimmer of hope’
LONDON: The Irish government will ask the International Court of Justice to expand its definition of genocide over Israel’s “collective punishment” of civilians in the Gaza Strip, Sky News reported on Thursday.
Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin said his government is “concerned” that a “narrow interpretation of what constitutes genocide” is leading to a “culture of impunity in which the protection of civilians is minimized.”
He added that there has been “collective punishment of the Palestinian people through the intent and impact of military actions of Israel in Gaza,” and that the Irish government “prioritizes the protection of civilian life.”
Ireland is set to link the request to the case brought by South Africa to the ICJ under the UN Genocide Convention, as well as a case brought by Gambia against Myanmar.
“By legally intervening in South Africa’s case, Ireland will be asking the ICJ to broaden its interpretation of what constitutes the commission of genocide by a state,” Martin said.
“Intervening in both cases demonstrates the consistency of Ireland’s approach to the interpretation and application of the Genocide Convention.”
The convention identifies the practice as the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group” by killing, inflicting physical and mental harm, and imposing destructive conditions. Collective punishment is not currently part of the criteria.
Israel has also been accused of committing genocide by Amnesty International, which said the country has repeatedly attacked Palestinians, destroyed infrastructure and limited civilians’ access to food, water and medicine.
Amnesty’s executive director in Ireland, Stephen Bowen, called Dublin’s actions a “glimmer of hope,” adding: “Those like Ireland who have called for a ceasefire must join with other like-minded states to create this common platform to end the genocide.
“They must be resolute; they must be relentless; they must be loud, clear, visible. This is genocide. This must stop.”
G7 ready to support political transition in Syria – statement
- G7 leaders called on ‘all parties’ to ‘preserve Syria’s territorial integrity and national unity, and respect its independence and sovereignty’
ROME: Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) major democracies “stand ready to support a transition process that leads to credible, inclusive, and non-sectarian governance” in Syria, a statement said on Thursday.
The G7 said a political transition after the end of Bashar Assad’s 24-year authoritarian rule had to ensure “respect for the rule of law, universal human rights, including women’s rights, the protection of all Syrians, including religious and ethnic minorities, transparency and accountability.”
“The G7 will work with and fully support a future Syrian government that abides by those standards and results from that process,” the statement added.
The leaders also called on “all parties” to “preserve Syria’s territorial integrity and national unity, and respect its independence and sovereignty.”
Israeli claims about Hamas fighters in hospitals may be ‘grossly exaggerated’: ICC prosecutor
- Andrew Cayley: ‘I think we’ve been misled about that in the press. There are lies being spoken’
- ‘Exceptionally good satellite imagery’ shows ‘on a daily basis how these (hospitals) are destroyed’
LONDON: Israeli claims about Hamas using hospitals in the Gaza Strip as bases of operation may have been “grossly exaggerated,” an International Criminal Court prosecutor has said.
Speaking at an event in The Hague, Andrew Cayley, the ICC lawyer leading the investigation into alleged war crimes and breaches of international humanitarian law in Gaza, said of the Israeli claims: “We need to be able to demonstrate very clearly what the level of military presence was, if at all, in these hospitals because I think we’ve been misled about that in the press.”
Israel regularly claimed that Hamas fighters were using hospitals as bases for cover and using patients and medics as human shields.
Cayley said the ICC was having “great difficulty assessing” the veracity of the claims “because clearly there are lies being spoken, but that’s really something we do need to get to the bottom of as a prosecution office.”
The former UK chief military prosecutor reports directly to Karim Khan, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, who last month secured arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and senior Hamas figure Mohammed Deif.
At the event, held to discuss attacks on healthcare in Palestine, Sudan and Ukraine, Cayley said damage caused to Gaza’s health infrastructure would be examined as part of the investigation into the war.
“Looking at damage to health facilities, destruction of health facilities, we’ll be coming on to that probably later next year. We’re having to do this in stages simply because of the resources that we have,” he added.
“Airstrikes, sieges, raids on hospitals. Add to that lack of fuel, electricity, food, medicine. That’s why the (healthcare) system has collapsed.”
He said he and his team had interviewed medical personnel who had worked in Gaza, and the ICC had seen “exceptionally good satellite imagery” that showed “on a daily basis how these (hospitals) are destroyed.”
Cayley added that his team are awaiting even better imagery to find evidence “showing either the truth or the falsehood of the usage of these facilities as military combat facilities.”
The World Health Organization said it had evaluated 35 hospitals in Gaza and determined that only 17 of them were even partly operational. Five others were labeled “fully damaged” and 13 “non-functional.”
