Syrian Rebels Start Power Transition as Search Begins for Assad’s Torturers

People gather at the Saydnaya prison looking for loved ones in Damascus, Syria, on Dec. 9, 2024. OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images

The Syrian prime minister, who was appointed by the ousted president Bashar al-Assad, has officially handed over power to a so-called salvation government, led by rebel factions based in north-west Syria.

Mohammed Jalali, who was appointed by Assad in September, met with Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), on Monday to discuss the transition.

HTS, which began as an affiliate of al-Qaeda and remains designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Britain and Turkey, led a whirlwind offensive which seized the cities of Aleppo, Hama and Homs and led to the Assad regime collapsing on Dec. 7.

Assad fled to Moscow, where he has been given asylum by his close ally and backer, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, but most of his troops are believed to have taken off their uniforms and slipped away, with some reported to have crossed the border into Iraq.

Later on Tuesday the HTS is expected to name a number of former Assad regime officials who oversaw torture and have been designated as war criminals.

On Monday an indictment was unsealed in Chicago and names two Assad regime officials - Jamil Hassan, 72, and Abdul Salam Mahmoud, 65, suspected of war crimes.

Hopes of finding thousands of political prisoners in underground cells at the notorious Saydnaya prison faded on Monday.

Heavy iron doors inside the subterranean prison, north of Damascus, were finally opened but there was no sign of thousands of missing people.

‘Where Is Everyone?’

Outside the prison, Ghada Assad, broke down in tears after finding no trace of her missing brother.

She asked a journalist, “Where is everyone? Where are everyone’s children? Where are they?”

Assad, who had traveled from Damascus, said, “My heart has been burned over my brother. For 13 years, I kept looking for him.”

In 2011, during the so-called Arab Spring, people rose up against the regime but, backed by Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, Assad responded brutally, destroying cities like Aleppo in the process of recapturing them, and killing and incarcerating tens of thousands suspected of being disloyal.

Faced with economic sanctions, Assad appears to have propped up his regime by getting involved in narcotics production and trafficking, especially in captagon, a highly addictive amphetamine.

Last year the British government said the trade could be worth $57 billion a year and the UK and U.S. imposed sanctions on several individuals alleged to be involved in captagon production.

Following the collapse of the regime, several reports have emerged on social media showing seizures of captagon and luxurious premises reportedly funded by the trade.

Elsewhere there are signs of a return to normality in Damascus and other cities.

Syria’s banks reopened on Tuesday, and the oil ministry has called on employees in the sector to return to work.

Damascus is under the control of HTS, one of several rebel groups which now control Syria.

Clashes In Manbij

Two of them, the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) and the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have clashed in the city of Manbij in the north of the country, with conflicting reports on social media of who has gained the upper hand.

Meanwhile, in the south west corner of Syria, Israel has denied it is taking advantage of the fall of the Assad regime to mount an incursion.

It said it had taken, “limited and temporary measures” to protect its security.

But the United Nations’ special envoy in Syria, Geir Pedersen, said, “We are continuing to see Israeli movements and bombardments into Syrian territory. This needs to stop. This is extremely important.”

Israel denied penetrating Syrian territory beyond a buffer zone with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The buffer zone was established following the 1973 Yom Kippur war, when Assad’s father Hafez ordered his troops into the Golan Heights, where they were repelled by the Israelis.

Israeli special forces have now seized abandoned outposts on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, strategic heights which overlook Damascus.

Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday his country welcomed the fall of Assad but remained focused on its own security.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia have accused Israel of violating international law.

A woman examines the cells at the infamous Saydnaya military prison, just north of Damascus, Syria, on Dec. 9, 2024. AP Photo/Hussein Malla

Iranian government spokesman Fatemeh Mohajerani called for “respect for Syria’s territorial integrity.”

Meanwhile the commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, has said no Iranian forces remained in Syria.

Hamas Congratulates Syrians

On Monday, Hamas, congratulated the Syrian people for achieving their “aspirations for freedom and justice.”

Hamas, which is allied with Iran and Hezbollah, said, “We stand strongly with the great people of Syria...and respect the will, the independence, and the political choices of the people of Syria.”

It went on to say it hoped Syria would continue, “its historical and pivotal role in supporting the Palestinian people.”

For decades the Assad regime supported and hosted a number of Palestinian terrorists, such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), whose leader Ahmed Jibril died in Damascus in 2021, aged 85.

Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.