Students return to classrooms in Syria after the country’s new rulers ordered schools to reopen.

    More than 7,600 Syrian refugees crossed the Turkish border to return home in the five days after the fall of al-Assad, Turkiye’s interior minister says.

    Israel’s air force carries out 61 missile attacks on military sites across Syria while ground troops destroy roads, power lines and water networks in southeastern Quneitra.

    Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa condemns Israel’s land grabs and ongoing attacks, but says the country is too “exhausted” for a new conflict.

    US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the Biden administration has “been in contact” with HTS, which is led by al-Sharaa but is designated a “terrorist” organisation by Washington.

    Moscow evacuates ‘part’ of its diplomatic personnel from Syria

    Russia’s foreign ministry says it has evacuated some of its diplomatic staff from Syria a week after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

    “On December 15, the withdrawal of part of the personnel of the Russian (diplomatic) representation in Damascus was carried out by a special flight of the Russian Air Force from the Hmeimim airbase” in Syria, the ministry’s crisis situations department said on Telegram.

    During al-Assad’s rule, Moscow was able to greatly expand upon Russia’s naval base at Tartous, first established during Syria’s pact with the Soviet Union in 1971, as well as the airbase at Hmeimim, which it has operated since 2015.

    Qatar set to re-open its embassy in Damascus

    A Qatari delegation has arrived in Damascus to pave the way for the re-opening of Qatar’s embassy in Syria, which has been shut since July 2011

    The country’s foreign ministry said in a statement that its delegation had reiterated its support of the Syrian people to achieve security in a meeting with Syria’s caretaker government.

    Netanyahu, Trump discuss Gaza captives and Syria

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with US President-elect Donald Trump about developments in Syria and a recent push to secure the release of Israeli and foreign hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, he has said.

    “We have no interest in a conflict with Syria,” Netanyahu said in a statement. Israeli actions in Syria were intended to “thwart the potential threats from Syria and to prevent the takeover of terrorist elements near our border,” he said.

    His comments came after the Israeli government approved Netanyahu’s plan to encourage demographic growth in the occupied Golan Heights by allocating more than $11m.

    Israel has pressed deeper into Syrian territory seizing additional land along the Golan Heights following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime.

    Which European countries have paused Syrian asylum claims?

    After the fall of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, countries across the continent have announced plans to pause asylum applications for Syrian people seeking asylum.

    Here are some examples:

•     Germany, which has accepted more than a million Syrian refugees, has frozen the processing of asylum applications for Syrian people, which will affect 47,770 applications that are already in the system.
•     In Austria, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said he had “instructed the ministry to prepare an orderly repatriation and deportation programme to Syria”.
•     Denmark said it is suspending 69 asylum cases currently being processed. It added that it is now also planning to start deporting Syrians, regardless of whether they have received asylum or not.
•     Sweden’s Migration Agency has announced that it will suspend all asylum decisions involving Syrian citizens.
•     France’s Interior Ministry said it would put asylum requests from Syrians on hold.
•     The UK’s Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said the country has “paused asylum decisions on cases from Syria while the Home Office reviews and monitors the current situation”.