The United States on Monday vowed to make all efforts to bring back journalist Austin Tice, who was abducted in Syria in 2012, with a US envoy heading to the region after strongman Bashar al-Assad's overthrow.
Roger Carstens, the US special envoy on hostage affairs, has arrived in nearby Beirut on a mission to find information on Tice, US officials said.
In the northern Lebanon town of Chekka, Suheil Hamawi received a heartfelt welcome as he returned home Monday after languishing for 33 years in deposed Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's jails.
A day earlier, as Assad fled the country, Islamist-led rebels captured the Syrian capital and released thousands of prisoners from his notorious jail system.
"Today I feel like I can breathe again. The best thing in this world is freedom," Hamawi, 61, told AFP, visibly tearing up from joy.
Since rebels took Aleppo more than a week ago, its new de facto authorities have been getting on with running Syria's second city, restoring basic services like communications, electricity and health.
Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) had been administering parts of neighbouring Idlib province, before it launched on November 27 a lightning offensive alongside allied groups, seizing control of government-held territory.
Clashes between Palestinian security forces and militants killed a young Palestinian in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Monday, the security forces said.
Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas condemned the actions of the security forces in Jenin, where they have been embroiled over the past week in clashes with militants, particularly in the city's refugee camp.
Hamas is a political rival to the Fatah party that dominates the Palestinian Authority, which has partial administrative authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Armed men broke the bolts on the cell and the prisoners crept out: haggard, bewildered and scarcely believing that their years of torment in Syria's most brutal jail were over.
"What has happened?" asked one prisoner after another.
"You are free, come out! It is over," cried the voice of a man filming them on his telephone.
"Bashar has gone. We have crushed him!"
The dramatic liberation of Saydnaya prison came hours after rebels took the nearby capital Damascus, having sent president Bashar al-Assad fleeing after more than 13 years of civil war.
The collapse of Moscow ally Bashar al-Assad's Syrian government has dealt a major blow to Russia's image of global strength and laid bare the limits of its military reach as its Ukraine offensive drags on.
Moscow helped keep Assad in power when it intervened in the Syrian civil war in 2015, but with its troops and firepower now concentrated on Ukraine, its ability to protect the iron-fisted ruler this time was limited.
A new Netflix series on Saudi football features packed stadiums and top-flight talent, but whether it can curb criticism of Riyadh's bid to host World Cup 2034 is an open question.
The six-episode "Saudi Pro League: Kickoff" debuted just three weeks before the FIFA Congress is set to formally approve Saudi Arabia -- the sole candidate -- as host of the quadrennial spectacle.
The vote on Wednesday will be a crowning moment for de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's use of sport to amass influence and improve the Gulf kingdom's global image.
European leaders have hailed the end of Bashar al-Assad's brutal rule in Syria as a moment of hope -– but they also view his sudden toppling as fraught with dangers.
As the war-torn country charts a new course, Europe is anxious to avoid fresh turmoil that could send migrants and jihadists once again heading to the continent.
"This historic change in the region offers opportunities but is not without risks," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X.
Wearing a navy down jacket and carrying a small suitcase, Alikabor looks like any other regular international traveller but early on Monday he was queueing with other Syrian refugees, hoping to pass through Turkey's Cilvegozu border crossing and return to his homeland.
"I'm going back to look for my missing brother. We've not had news of him for 13 years," said the 29-year-old with German citizenship who lives in Hamburg and declined to give his surname.
Syria's Islamist rebel leader on Tuesday vowed to pursue former senior government officials responsible for torture and war crimes, a day after he began talks on the transfer of power following president Bashar al-Assad's ouster.
Assad fled Syria as the Islamist-led opposition alliance swept into the capital Damascus, bringing a spectacular end on Sunday to five decades of brutal rule by his clan.
