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Syrian conflict
The race to rescue those trapped in Syria’s ‘human slaughterhouse’
Footage emerging from the liberation of Bashar al-Assad’s most notorious prisons has revealed underground cells and body-crushing iron presses used to detain and torture.
- by Sarah Newey
Latest
Israel attacks Syrian air bases, destroying dozens of aircraft, say Syrian sources
The United Nations says Israeli forces are occupying a demilitarised buffer zone between Israel and Syria in violation of a 1974 ceasefire agreement.
‘It has come at last’: Sydney Syrians celebrate Assad’s fall
Diaspora are celebrating the sudden end of over half a century of dictatorship in their homeland.
- by Ben Cubby
Analysis
Syrian conflict
With Assad gone, a brutal dictatorship ends. But the new risks are huge
The overthrow of the Assad government could mean Iran’s pathway to Hezbollah is cut off. Now Iran, newly vulnerable, will have to decide between negotiation and the bomb.
- by David E. Sanger
Opinion
Middle East tensions
Netanyahu’s rebuke of Albanese is weak and unprovable but serves his purposes
Israel’s prime minister sees himself as the ultimate defender of Israel against an international left that he portrays as hostile and complicit in antisemitism.
- by Dan Perry
Analysis
Syrian conflict
Peter Dutton said it was too dangerous to go to this Syrian prison camp. We went there anyway
In the power vacuum left by Bashar al-Assad’s fall, amid the weakness of Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, nobody knows who will control Syria or how they will rule.
- by Michael Bachelard
Analysis
Syrian conflict
The quiet media student turned rebel commander who toppled a brutal regime
Syria’s rebel leader Abu Mohammad al-Golani was once a middle-class student with middling grades and a quiet disposition. He is now credited with helping liberate his country.
- by Hassan Hassan
Updated
Syrian conflict
Ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is in Moscow, says Russian state media
The swiftly moving events have raised questions about the future of the country and the wider region.
Updated
World politics
Syrian government falls to fast-moving rebels, ending 50 years of iron rule by Assad family
The government of Bashar al-Assad appears to have fallen in a stunning end to the family’s 54-year rule.
- by Bassem Mroue and Zeina Karam
The fall of Assad after 14 years of war in Syria ends decades-long dynasty
With no clear successor to Bashar al-Assad, the regime’s downfall throws a fragmented country into further uncertainty.
- by Zeina Karam and Abby Sewell
Assad’s family ‘flees’ to Russia – but Kremlin ‘won’t come’ to Syrian leader’s rescue
Vladimir Putin is said to be disgusted by reports of Syrian troops fleeing their positions.
- by James Kilner and Daniel Hardaker