Israel’s military says it carried out 480 attacks on Syria in the past 48 hours, including on 15 naval vessels, anti-aircraft batteries and weapons production sites in several cities.

    Syria’s caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir says Syrians need “stability and calm” and that he’s working with officials from Bashar al-Assad’s regime to reset public services and institutions.

    Syrian opposition fighters say they’ve taken over the northeastern city of Deir Az Zor from al-Assad’s forces and Iranian militias.

    Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, also known as al-Julani, promises to rebuild Syria, saying Syrians are “exhausted” after 14 years of war.

    Syria’s new police chief pledges to restore ‘full security, order’

    As we’ve been reporting, Syria’s interim government is trying to restore order and public services following al-Assad’s fall.

    On Tuesday, the new administration appointed a former opposition commander as the country’s new police chief.

    Fouad al-Shami spoke to Al Jazeera earlier in the day.

    “Our fighters are deployed to patrol across Damascus,” he said. “We will not rest until full security and order are established in every part of the country.”

    Finding missing US journalist a ‘top priority’, White House says

    As we have previously reported, the Biden administration has said it is in conversation with officials from Turkiye and other countries to get more information on the whereabouts of Austin Tice, an American journalist kidnapped in Syria more than a decade ago.

    Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre described finding Tice as a “top priority of this administration”.

    “The FBI and State Department have offered up to $11m in reward to anyone who can provide information. We do not know where he is located. We do not know. But we continue to hope that he is alive,” she said.

    Jean-Pierre added that while there is “no indication that he’s not alive”, US officials have no indication “about his location or his condition”.

    Tice, a former US Marine and freelance journalist, was 31 when he was abducted in Damascus in August 2012 while reporting on the uprising against then-President Bashar al-Assad.

    Banks and shops re-open in Damascus

    When opposition fighters entered Damascus on December 8, they announced a curfew at night, and state and public institutions stopped their services.

    But on the third day after the regime’s collapse, banks and bazaars have reopened and life has begun to return to normal.

    The historic Hamidiyah Bazaar, which was closed for two days, is now bustling with people again.

    Waseem Anan, who runs a shoe shop there, welcomed the return to normalcy.

    “I was hesitant to open my shop in the first two days, but then I felt a sense of relief. Now, all the shops in Bazaar are open. Under the regime, we were so isolated from the world. Now, we feel reconnected,” he told Al Jazeera.