Syria latest news: Syrian rebel leader vows revenge against Assad henchmen as Israel strikes ports

The number of Palestinians killed in Israel’s invasion and bombardment of Gaza is now at 44,835 since October 7, the Gaza health ministry said on Thursday.

The military offensive has also wounded 106,356, the statement added.

Turkey-backed rebel forces are continuing their advances in northern Syria with an aim to “clear terrorism”, a Turkish defence ministry source said on Thursday.

The rebel forces are fighting a US-backed Kurdish militia in the region. Turkey has repeatedly told the US that “a terrorist organisation cannot be eliminated by using another terrorist organisation”, the source added.

The US is backing the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in its fight against Islamic State. The SDF is led by a Kurdish militia regarded by Ankara as a terrorist group.

Jordanian King Abdullah has agreed with German chancellor Olaf Scholz on the importance of an inclusive political process in Syria, a German government spokesperson said on Thursday.

The two leaders held a phone call on Thursday. “Both agreed that an inclusive political process in Syria was now very important and that the transition process needed to be supported. Both attached great importance to the protection of ethnic and religious minorities,” the spokesperson said.

They also stressed the importance of Syria’s territorial integrity, he added.

The US foreign policy establishment sees the return of Donald Trump to the White House as an imminent threat to the bipartisan consensus in foreign policy matters.

Joe Biden was understood to be the return to a “normal” foreign policy approach after the turbulence of Trump 1.0.

Yet in one area – vital to the security, at least of those who live in it – the Biden administration has broken ranks with a US foreign policy tradition dating back to 1919. He now has less than six weeks left in the White House in which to abandon the Kurds.

For miles, the bleached ribcages of bombed-out buildings on either side of the main highway north of Damascus flick past as you drive – a grim monument to some of the fiercest battles that took place between Bashar al-Assad’s forces and rebels at the start of the revolution more than a decade ago.

Now, after Assad’s stunning defeat, families, some of whom returned from fleeing the country, pick through the dust-choked rubble of what was once their homes. They gather at Jobar’s chewed-up central graveyard to host the first funeral here in 13 years.

Our chief international correspondent Bel Trew reports:

Thousands of Syrians are attempting to flee Syria at the Masnaa border point with Lebanon, the only operational crossing between the two countries.

But many of them remain stuck on the Syrian side of the crossing and remain unable to cross, after the border was overwhelmed by a huge influx of travellers – going in both directions – since the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Many are members of Syrian minority groups, are living in fear of what a new Syria led by Islamist factions may mean for minorities, including the Alawites and Christians, many of whom weren’t in favour of the uprising against the Assad regime in 2011.

Seven children were among the 28 killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, Palestinian medical officials say.

It comes hours after the UN General Assembly approved a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and expressing support for Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, which Israel is set to ban.

One strike flattened a house in the Nuseirat refuge camp, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby city of Deir al-Balah.

Two other strikes killed 15 men who were among local committees established to secure aid convoys, the Associated Press reported.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has told his Israeli counterpart Israel Katz to remain in close contact over events in Syria, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

Washington is monitoring developments in Syria and supports an inclusive political transition, and will continue its mission to prevent the Islamic State militant group from rebuilding in Syria.

Following the collapse of Assad’s dictatorship, Israel said its jets conducted hundreds of strikes in Syria and destroyed much of Syria’s military infrastructure.

“Secretary Austin emphasized the importance of close consultation between the United States and Israel on events in Syria,” the Pentagon said.

Syrian rebel commander Abu Mohammed al-Golani, who fronted the group responsible for the collapse of the Assad regime, has vowed not to pardon the former dictator’s henchmen.

On Wednesday afternoon, Syria’s state broadcaster posted the commander’s comments.

“We will not pardon those who were involved in the torture and liquidation of detainees and were the cause of this,” the leader of Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) said.

“We will pursue them in our country, and we demand that countries hand over to us those of these criminals who fled to them in order to achieve justice against them.”

Syrian rebels set fire to the tomb of Bashar al-Assad’s father in his family’s hometown in Al-Qardahah, near Latakia.

Eyewitness video released on Wednesday, 11 December, showed men gathering around flames inside the mausoleum of Hafez al-Assad.

The date of the footage could not be independently verified, but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said that gunmen set fire to the tomb on Tuesday.

Hafez Al-Assad took office on March 14 1971, seizing power in a bloodless coup in which Dr Noureddin Al-Atassi was overthrown.

His son Bashar was ousted over the weekend and fled to Russia where he was given political asylum.

The family ruled Syria for more than 50 years with a brutal regime.