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Fireworks erupt above people celebrating the ouster of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad <br> <br> at Umayyad Square in central Damascus<br> <br> <br> <br> Jordan will host US, EU, Turkish and Arab diplomats on Saturday for high-level talks on Syria, a day after celebrations in Damascus and nationwide rejoicing at the ouster of president Bashar al-Assad.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Syrians celebrated the day they called the "Friday of victory" with fireworks heralding the fall <br> <br> of the Assad dynasty.<br> <br> <br> <br> More than half a century of brutal rule by his clan came to a sudden end on Sunday, after <br> <br> a lightning rebel offensive swept across the country and took the capital.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Assad's fall has also led to fast-moving diplomatic developments, with US <br> <br> Secretary of State Antony Blinken among envoys <br> <br> set to discuss Syria on Saturday in the Jordanian city of Aqaba.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <strong>People in Syria's Aleppo celebrate the fall of Assad during rallies called <br> <br> the 'Friday of victory'</strong><br> <br> <br> <br> Turkey, meanwhile, will reopen its embassy in Damascus, closed since 2012 amid calls by Ankara for Assad to step down.<br> <br> <br> <br> A Qatari diplomat said a delegation from the Gulf emirate <br> <br> would visit Syria on Sunday to meet transitional government officials and <a href="https://ondashboard.win/story.php?title=wine-fundamentals-explained">discuss</a> aid and <br> <br> the reopening of their embassy.<br> <br> <br> <br> <u><strong>Unlike other Arab states, Qatar never restored diplomatic ties with Assad after a rupture in 2011.</strong></u><br> <br> <br> <br> Assad has fled Syria, closing an era in which suspected dissidents were jailed or killed,<br> <br> and capping nearly 14 years of war that killed more than 500,000 people and displaced millions.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <b>- 'Tears of joy' -</b><br> <br> <br> <br> Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, head of the Islamist group Hayat <br> <br> Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) which spearheaded the offensive, had called on Syrians "to go to the streets to express their joy".<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> A girl jumps off a toppled statue of Syrian ex-president <br> <br> Hafez al-Assad during celebrations in the city of Sweida<br> <br> <br> <br> Celebrations continued into the night on the first Friday -- the <br> <br> Muslim day of rest and prayer -- since Assad took flight.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Umayyad Square in Damascus was jammed with vehicles, people <br> <br> and waving flags as fireworks shot into the air, AFPTV live images showed.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Thousands flocked to the capital's landmark Umayyad Mosque, some raising the <br> <br> three-star Syrian independence flag that none dared wave <br> <br> in the capital during Assad's repressive rule.<br> <br> <br> <br> Crowds also gathered in the squares and streets of other Syrian cities,<br> <br> including Homs, Hama and Idlib.<br> <br> <br> <br> There was a festive and relaxed atmosphere <br> <br> as hundreds rallied in the main square of Syria's second city Aleppo, a scene of <br> <br> fierce fighting during the country's civil war, AFP correspondents <br> <br> said.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Huge lines to attend the first Friday prayers at the landmark <br> <br> Umayyad Mosque in Damascus since Assad's ouster<br> <br> <br> <br> <b>A huge billboard depicting Assad and his father Hafez was <br> <br> set on fire.</b><br> <br> <br> <br> Ahmad Abd al-Majed, 39, an engineer who returned to Aleppo from Turkey, said that many shed "tears of joy and happiness".<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <u>"Syrians deserve to be happy," he said.</u><br> <br> <br> <br> In the southern city of Sweida, the heartland of Syria's Druze minority, Bayan al-Hinnawi, <br> <br> 77, never believed he would live to see such a day.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> "It's a wonderful sight. Nobody could have imagined this could happen",<br> <br> said Hinnawi, who spent 17 years in prison.<br> <br> <br> <br> <strong>- Tens of thousands missing -</strong><br> <br> <br> <br> Sunni Muslim HTS is rooted in Syria's branch of Al-Qaeda and designated a terrorist organisation by many <br> <br> Western governments.<br> <br> <br> <br> The group has sought to moderate its rhetoric, and the interim government insists the rights of all Syrians will <br> <br> be protected -- as will the rule of law.<br> <br> <br> <br> The European Union was seeking "to establish contacts" with the new <br> <br> rulers soon, an EU official told AFP on condition of <br> <br> anonymity.<br> <br> <br> <br> The UN refugee agency said the new government had sent "constructive" initial signals, including <br> <br> asking the organisation to stay in the country.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <b>A rose placed in the barrel of a gun of a Syrian rebel fighter <br> <br> in Damascus</b><br> <br> <br> <br> Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) democratic countries, who met <br> <br> virtually on Friday, expressed hope for "a peaceful and orderly transition through the definition of an inclusive political process" in Syria.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Inside much of Syria, the focus is turning towards unravelling the secrets of Assad's rule, particularly the network of detention centres and suspected torture sites.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Syrians have descended upon prisons, hospitals and morgues in search of long-disappeared loved ones.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> "I turned the world upside down looking," Abu <br> <br> Mohammed told AFP as he searched for news of three missing relatives at the Mazzeh airbase in Damascus.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <b>"We just want a hint of where they were."</b><br> <br> <br> <br> The International Committee of the Red Cross said it documented more than 35,000 disappearances during Assad's rule, with the actual number likely far <br> <br> higher.<br> <br> <br> <br> While Syrians celebrate the end of Assad's brutal rule, they face a struggle for necessities <br> <br> in a country ravaged by war, sanctions and runaway inflation.<br> <br> <br> <br> On Friday, the EU announced the launch of an "air bridge" <br> <br> operation to deliver an initial 50 tonnes of health supplies via neighbouring Turkey.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <b>- Israel ready to stay in buffer zone -</b><br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <i><u>Israeli incursion into Golan buffer zone</u></i><br> <br> <br> <br> Assad was propped up by Russia -- where a senior Russian official told US <br> <br> media he has fled -- as well as Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told private NTV television that his country had urged Russia and Iran not to <br> <br> intervene militarily "to ensure minimum loss of life".<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> The rebels launched their offensive on November 27, the <br> <br> same day a ceasefire took effect in the Israel-Hezbollah war,<br> <br> which saw Israel inflict staggering losses <br> <br> on Assad's Lebanese ally.<br> <br> <br> <br> Both Israel and Turkey, which backs some of the rebels who ousted Assad, have since carried out strikes inside Syria.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Israel's latest strikes hit military sites in the Eastern Qalamun region, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said Saturday.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Israel has also sent troops into a UN-patrolled buffer <br> <br> zone that separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the <br> <br> Golan Heights, in a move the UN said violated a 1974 armistice.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> The army has been ordered to "prepare to remain" there throughout the <br> <br> winter, Defence Minister Israel Katz's office said Friday.
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