A rebel fighter stands guard as Syrian students rally near the campus of the Damascus University in the Syrian capital on Sunday — AFP BEIRUT, Dec 15 (AFP/BBC): Israel has launched more than 60 strikes on Syrian territory over the past few hours, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said late Saturday.
Israel fired 61 missiles at Syrian military sites in less than five hours Saturday evening, it reported, maintaining a campaign which started after rebel forces toppled president Bashar al-Assad nearly a week ago.
Ambush kills four rebel
fighters in Assad fiefdom
An ambush on Saturday killed at least four fighters from a faction in the rebel alliance that overthrew Syria's president, a war monitor said. It happened in a bastion of support for ousted president Bashar al-Assad's stronghold, on the Mediterranean coast.
US officials in 'direct
contact' with rebels
The US has made "direct contact" with the HTS rebels who now control Syria after toppling the Assad regime, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said. It is the first acknowledgement of direct US interaction with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which the US currently still designates as a terrorist organisation.
Blinken told reporters the US has been in contact in particular over the fate of the missing American journalist, Austin Tice. Blinken was speaking in Jordan after talks with representatives from several Arab countries, Turkey, and Europe to discuss the future of Syria.
Officials agreed to support a peaceful transition process in the country, with Jordan's foreign minister saying that regional powers did not want to see it "descend into chaos".
Turkey ready to provide military support to
new Syria govt
Turkey is ready to provide military support to Syria's new government if it requests it, Defence Minister Yasar Guler said on Sunday.
In comments reported by Turkish media, he said the new government, headed up by the Islamist-led rebels who overthrew Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad a week ago, should be given a chance and that Turkey was "ready to provide the necessary support if the new administration requests it".
Uniformed children return
to school in Damascus
Uniformed children could be seen returning to school in Syria's Damascus on Sunday, attending class for the first time since the fall of president Bashar al-Assad a week ago.
The festive atmosphere in the Syrian capital following Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham's (HTS) takeover on 8 December has now given way to a gentler pace of daily life.
"The school has asked us to send middle and upper pupils back to class," said Raghida Ghosn, 56, a mother of three.
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