Syrian Gov't Services at Complete Stop 12/10 06:07

   

   DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- Syria's prime minister said Monday that most cabinet 
ministers were back at work after rebels overthrew President Bashar Assad, but 
some state workers failed to return to their jobs, and a United Nations 
official said the country's public sector had come "to a complete and abrupt 
halt."

   Meanwhile, streams of refugees crossed back into Syria from neighboring 
countries, hoping for a more peaceful future and looking for relatives who 
disappeared during Assad's brutal rule.

   There were already signs of the difficulties ahead for the rebel alliance 
now in control of much of the country. The alliance is led by a former senior 
al-Qaida militant who severed ties with the extremist group years ago and has 
promised representative government and religious tolerance.

   The rebel command said Monday they would not tell women how to dress.

   "It is strictly forbidden to interfere with women's dress or impose any 
request related to their clothing or appearance, including requests for 
modesty," the command said in a statement on social media.

   Nearly two days after rebels entered the capital, some key government 
services had shut down after state workers ignored calls to go back to their 
jobs, the U.N. official said, causing issues at airports and borders and 
slowing the flow of humanitarian aid.

   Rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was long known by his nom de guerre Abu 
Mohammed al-Golani, also met for the first time with Prime Minister Mohammad 
Ghazi Jalali, who stayed in Syria when Assad fled.

   "You will see there are skills" among the rebels, al-Sharaa said in a video 
shared on a rebel messaging channel.

   Israel said it carried out airstrikes on suspected chemical weapons sites 
and long-range rockets to keep them from falling into the hands of extremists. 
Israel also seized a buffer zone inside Syria after Syrian troops withdrew.

   In northern Syria, Turkey said allied opposition forces seized the town of 
Manbij from Kurdish-led forces backed by the United States, a reminder that 
even after Assad's departure, the country remains split among armed groups that 
have fought in the past.

   The Kremlin said Russia has granted political asylum to Assad, a decision 
made by President Vladimir Putin. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined 
to comment on Assad's specific whereabouts and said Putin did not plan to meet 
with him.

   Damascus was quiet Monday, with life slowly returning to normal, though most 
shops and public institutions were closed. In public squares, some people were 
still celebrating. Civilian traffic resumed, but there was no public transport. 
Long lines formed in front of bakeries and other food stores.

   There was little sign of any security presence though in some areas, small 
groups of armed men were stationed in the streets.

   Across swathes of Syria, families are now waiting outside prisons, security 
offices and courts, hoping for news of loved ones who were imprisoned or who 
disappeared.

   Just north of Damascus in the feared Saydnaya military prison, women 
detainees, some with their children, screamed as rebels broke locks off their 
cell doors. Amnesty International and other groups say dozens of people were 
secretly executed every week in Saydnaya, and they estimate that up to 13,000 
Syrians were killed between 2011 and 2016.

   "Don't be afraid," one rebel said as he ushered women from packed cells. 
"Bashar Assad has fallen!"

   In southern Turkey, Mustafa Sultan was among hundreds of Syrian refugees 
waiting at border crossings to head home. He was searching for his older 
brother, who was imprisoned under Assad.

   "I haven't seen him for 13 years," he said. "I am going to go see whether 
he's alive."

   Prime minister says government is operational, but UN official says it's 
paralyzed

   Jalali, the prime minister, has sought to project normalcy since Assad fled.

   "We are working so that the transitional period is quick and smooth," he 
told Sky News Arabia TV on Monday, saying the security situation had already 
improved from the day before.

   At the court of Justice in Damascus, which was stormed by the rebels to free 
detainees, Judge Khitam Haddad, an aide to the justice minister in the outgoing 
government, said Sunday that judges were ready to resume work quickly.

   "We want to give everyone their rights," Haddad said outside the courthouse. 
"We want to build a new Syria and to keep the work, but with new methods."

   But a U.N. official said some government services had been paralyzed as 
worried state employees stayed home.

   The public sector "has just come to a complete and abrupt halt," said U.N. 
Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria Adam Abdelmoula, noting, for 
example, that an aid flight carrying urgently needed medical supplies had been 
put on hold after aviation employees abandoned their jobs.

   "This is a country that has had one government for 53 years and then 
suddenly all of those who have been demonized by the public media are now in 
charge in the nation's capital," Abdelmoula told The Associated Press. "I think 
it will take a couple of days and a lot of assurance on the part of the armed 
groups for these people to return to work again."

   Britain, U.S. considering removing insurgent group from terror list

   Britain and the U.S. are both considering whether to remove the main 
anti-Assad rebel group from their lists of designated terrorist organizations.

   Hayat Tahrir al-Sham began as an offshoot of al-Qaida but cut ties with the 
group years ago and has worked to present a more moderate image.

   The group's leader, al-Sharaa, "is saying some of the right things about the 
protection of minorities, about respecting people's rights," British Cabinet 
minister Pat McFadden said, adding that a change would be considered "quite 
quickly."

   But British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, speaking later during a visit to 
Saudi Arabia, said it was "far too early" to make that decision.

   In Washington, a Biden administration official noted that HTS will be an 
"important component" in Syria's future and that the U.S. needs to "engage with 
them appropriately."

   Another administration official said the U.S. remains in a "wait and see" 
mode on whether to remove the designation.

   Both officials requested anonymity to discuss the ongoing internal 
deliberations.

   State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters that such 
designations are constantly under review. Even while it is in place, the 
designation does not bar U.S. officials from speaking with members or leaders 
of the group, he said.

   The U.S. also announced it was sending its special envoy for hostage affairs 
to Beirut to seek information about the whereabouts of Austin Tice, a 
journalist who vanished in Syria 12 years ago and who President Joe Biden has 
said is believed to be alive.

   Israel confirms it struck suspected chemical weapons and rockets

   Israelis welcomed the fall of Assad, who was a key ally of Iran and 
Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group, while expressing concern over what comes 
next. Israel says its forces temporarily seized a buffer zone inside Syria 
dating back to a 1974 agreement after Syrian troops withdrew in the chaos.

   "The only interest we have is the security of Israel and its citizens," 
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told reporters Monday. Saar did not 
provide details about the targets, but the British-based Syrian Observatory for 
Human Rights said they included weapons warehouses, research centers, air 
defense systems and aircraft squadrons.

   Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria in recent years, 
targeting what it says are military sites related to Iran and Hezbollah. 
Israeli officials rarely comment on individual strikes.

   Syria agreed to give up its chemical weapons stockpile in 2013, after the 
government was accused of launching an attack near Damascus that killed 
hundreds of people. But it is widely believed to have kept some of the weapons 
and was accused of using them again in subsequent years.

   Turkey says its allies have taken northern town

   Officials in Turkey, which is the main supporter of the Syrian opposition to 
Assad, say its allies have taken full control of the northern Syrian city of 
Manbij from a U.S.-supported and Kurdish-led force known as the Syrian 
Democratic Forces, or SDF.

   The SDF said a Turkish drone struck in the village of al-Mistriha in eastern 
Syria, killing 12 civilians, including six children.

   Turkey views the SDF, which is primarily composed of a Syrian Kurdish 
militia, as an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which 
has waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkey. The SDF has also been a key ally 
of the United States in the war against the Islamic State group.

   Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Monday warned against allowing 
Islamic State or Kurdish fighters to take advantage of the situation, saying 
Turkey will prevent Syria from turning into a "haven for terrorism."