Maher Al Mounes

DAMASCUS, SYRIA – DECEMBER 15: (—-EDITORIAL USE ONLY – MANDATORY CREDIT – ‘SYRIAN TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT / HANDOUT’ – NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS – DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS—-)The UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir O. Pedersen meets Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani in Damascus, Syria on December 15, 2024. (Photo by Syrian Transitional Government/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Syria’s new rulers start talks with foreign governments as France raises flag at Damascus embassy for first time in over a decade

By Maher Al Mounes, Marisol Rifai, and others

TOPSHOT – People remove the Syrian flag from the entrance of ousted president Bashar al-Assad’s Al-Muhajirin residence in Damascus on December 8, 2024. Celebrations erupted around Syria and crowds ransacked President Bashar al-Assad’s luxurious home on December 8 after Islamist-led rebels swept into Damascus and declared he had fled the country, in a spectacular end to five decades of Baath party rule. (Photo by Bakr AL KASSEM / AFP) (Photo by BAKR AL KASSEM/AFP via Getty Images)

This was Bashar al-Assad’s mansion. Syrians are now helping themselves to its opulence after the ousted dictator fled to Russia

By Maher Al Mounes and AFP