Hours before rebel forces seized Damascus and toppled his government on Sunday, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was already out of the country, telling hardly anyone, five former officials told AFP.

The night before, Assad had even asked his close adviser Buthaina Shaaban to prepare a speech -- which the ousted leader never gave -- before flying from Damascus airport to Russia's Hmeimim air base in Syria, and from there out of the country.

Assad left even "without telling... his close confidants in advance", a former aide told AFP, requesting anonymity for security reasons.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed Iraq to crack down on Iranian-backed militias, seeing an opening after the downfall of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad put Tehran on the back foot, a US official said.

Blinken met Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in Baghdad on Friday as part of a last-minute regional tour after Islamist-led Syrian rebels ended a half-century of rule by the Assad clan, a major ally of Iran.

A US official said Blinken told Sudani that Iran was at its weakest in some time and that Iraq had an opportunity to reduce Tehran's influence.

Crowds of visitors wander brilliantly lit shopping aisles, stunned by the abundance of goods on offer in the heart of the former rebel stronghold in northwest Syria.

Dana, near Sarmada in Idlib province, is less than 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of second city Aleppo, but had been cut off from the rest of the country until the fall of president Bashar al-Assad less than a week ago.

It is a major shopping centre because of its proximity to the border with Turkey.

The United States said Saturday it had made contact with Syria's victorious Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rebels, as Western and Arab states along with Turkey jointly voiced support for a united, peaceful Syria.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken's comment on "direct contact" with the HTS rebels came despite the United States having designated the group as terrorists in 2018.

Bayan al-Hinnawi, who spent years behind bars in Bashar al-Assad's Syria, joined crowds in the heartland of the Druze minority on Friday to celebrate the president's fall, "a dream" come true for the former prisoner.

Hundreds of people descended on Sweida's main square, singing and clapping in jubilation, just days after Islamist-led rebels took the capital Damascus, sending Assad fleeing.

The Druze-majority city in Syria's south has been a focal point of renewed anti-government demonstrations over the past year and a half.

Saydnaya prison north of the Syrian capital Damascus has become a symbol of the inhumane abuses of the Assad clan, especially since the country's civil war erupted in 2011.

The prison complex was the site of extrajudicial executions, torture and forced disappearances, epitomising the atrocities committed by ousted president Bashar al-Assad.

When Syrian rebels entered Damascus early last month after a lightning advance that toppled the Assad government, they announced they had seized Saydnaya and freed its inmates.

Some had been incarcerated there since the 1980s.

Thousands of jubilant Syrians converged on Damascus's landmark Umayyad Mosque for Friday prayers, waving opposition flags and chanting -- a sight unimaginable a week ago before rebels ousted president Bashar al-Assad.

Families with children mixed with armed and uniformed Islamist fighters to celebrate the first Friday prayers since Assad's overthrow, later streaming into the Old City's streets and squares.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has ordered the military to "prepare to remain" throughout the winter in the UN-patrolled buffer zone that is supposed to separate Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights.

Israel seized the demilitarised zone on the strategic plateau on Sunday, just hours after Syrian rebels swept president Bashar al-Assad from power.

The move drew international condemnation including from the United Nations, although close ally the United States on Thursday said it was consistent with Israel's right to self-defence.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken promised Friday to work with Iraq to ensure no resurgence of the Islamic State group after Bashar al-Assad's overthrow in neighbouring Syria.

On a regional tour devoted to a suddenly-changed Syria, the top US diplomat flew to Baghdad from the Turkish capital Ankara and headed into talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.

Blinken said he told Sudani of "our commitment to working with Iraq on security and always working for Iraq's sovereignty, to make sure that that is strengthened and preserved".

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday told Turkey it was "imperative" to work against a resurgence of the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria following the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

The top US diplomat also said he saw "encouraging signs" on reaching a ceasefire in the war-torn Gaza Strip.

His remarks came on the second leg of a whirlwind regional tour following Bashar al-Assad's ouster in a lightning offensive spearheaded by Islamist-led HTS rebels, ending five decades of repressive rule by his clan.