The spokesman for the opposition group, the Operations Room to Conquer Damascus, urged rebel fighters and civilians to uphold the institutions of the “free Syrian state”.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, whose country is Assad’s chief international backer, said he feels “sorry for the Syrian people”.
At an emergency gathering hosted by Qatar, a key regional mediator, foreign ministers and high-ranking officials from eight nations with stakes in Syria, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Turkey, convened late Saturday.
Majed bin Mohammed al-Ansari, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman and adviser to the prime minister, emphasized the consensus on the necessity of engaging all factions on the ground, including the HTS, with a primary focus on ensuring stability and a smooth transition.
The Israeli military said on Sunday it has deployed forces in a demilitarised buffer zone along its northern frontier with Syria following the rebel offensive there.
The military, which said it also sent troops to “other places necessary for its defence”, said the deployment was meant to provide security for residents of the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Middle East war and the international community, except for the US, views it as occupied.
