Syria’s new authorities vow to pursue Assad’s regime members for war crimes

Leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militant group Abu Mohammed al-Jolani has announced that the new Syrian authorities will pursue members of the Assad regime responsible for torture and war crimes.

Al-Jolani stated on Telegram that the authorities would publish lists of suspects and offer rewards for information leading to their identification. Those who have fled Syria will be pursued internationally, Caliber.Az reports via Israeli media.

"We will make the criminals, murderers, and officers of the army and intelligence services who were involved in torturing our citizens answer for their actions," al-Jolani, who now goes by his real name, Ahmad al-Sharaa, said.

On November 27, armed opposition groups launched a large-scale offensive against Syrian army positions in the Aleppo and Idlib provinces. By the evening of December 7, they had captured several major cities (Aleppo, Hama, Daraa, and Homs), and on December 8, they entered Damascus, with Syrian government forces withdrawing from the city.

Syrian government leader Muhammad Ghazi al-Jalali expressed readiness for a peaceful transfer of power in the country. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Bashar al-Assad stepped down as president of Syria and left the country, giving instructions for a peaceful handover of power. According to Russian state media, Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow as opposition forces took control of Syria's capital, and was granted asylum by Russia on humanitarian grounds. The decision to grant asylum to Assad and his family was made personally by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

By Naila Huseynova