Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday ordered Israeli military to "seize" a UN-patrolled buffer zone between Israeli- and Syria-controlled Golan Heights.

Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the militant leader whose stunning insurgency toppled Syria’s president Bashar Assad, has spent years working to remake his public image, renouncing longtime ties to al-Qaeda and depicting himself as a champion of pluralism and tolerance.

Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad yesterday fled Syria as Islamist-led rebels swept into Damascus, triggering celebrations across the country and beyond at the end of his “oppressive” rule.

Taiwan’s defence ministry said yesterday that China had nearly doubled the number of its warships operating around the island in the previous 24 hours, ahead of what security sources expect will be a new round of war games.

Bewildered and elated prisoners poured out of Syrian jails yesterday, shouting with joy as they emerged from one of the world’s most notorious detention systems and walked to freedom following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s government.

US President-elect Donald Trump yesterday called for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to end “the madness”, prompting President Volodymr Zelensky to say that there could be no peace without guarantees.

South Korea’s leadership crisis deepened yesterday as prosecutors named President Yoon Suk Yeol as a subject of a criminal investigation over last week’s martial law attempt, a media report said, and his former defence minister was arrested.

Syria’s capital woke up yesterday to chanting, cheering and gunfire in celebration of the fall of president Bashar al-Assad, after rebels said they entered the city and toppled the longtime ruler.

Celebrations across Syria as rebels oust Assad; president ‘flees country’; nations urge stability

As the commander of al Qaeda's franchise in the Syrian civil war, Abu Mohammed al-Golani was a shadowy figure who kept out of the public eye, even when his group became the most powerful faction fighting President Bashar al-Assad

Groups of Syrians strolled through the palaces of President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday following his ouster, wandering from room to room, posing for photographs, and with some taking items of furniture or ornaments..Video obtained by Reuters showed people entering the Al-Rawda Presidential

"Assad is gone. He has fled his country. His protector, Russia, Russia, Russia, led by (President) Vladimir Putin, was not interested in protecting him any longer," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

Following are reactions from around the world to events in Syria

In the capital Damascus, people cheered as they stood on a toppled statue of former president Hafez al-Assad, in a highly symbolic moment for a country ruled with an iron fist for five decades by his clan.

The offensive that took the world by surprise

Russian foreign minister says Assad left the country

On July 17, 2000, Assad becomes Syria's new head of state, after the death of his father, aged 69, who ruled Syria with an iron grip for 30 years.

Syria's army command notified officers on Sunday that Assad's regime had ended, a Syrian officer who was informed of the move told Reuters.

Jolani heads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in Syria's branch of Al-Qaeda

The timeline shows how the conflict began with peaceful pro-democracy protests, then developed into a multi-sided conflict that sucked in world powers