Syrian PM: Gov't Still Functioning     12/09 06:09

   

   DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- Syria's prime minister said Monday that most cabinet 
ministers are still working from offices in Damascus after rebels entered the 
capital over the weekend and overthrew President Bashar Assad. Streams of 
refugees crossed in from neighboring countries, hoping for a more peaceful 
future.

   But there were already signs of the difficulties ahead for the rebel 
alliance now in control of much of the country, which 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.

   Israel said it is carrying out airstrikes on suspected chemical weapons 
sites and long-range rockets to keep them from falling into the hands of 
extremists. Israel has 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 to Russia 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 was not planning to 
meet with him.

   Damascus was quiet on Monday, with life slowly returning to normal while 
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, and Associated Press 
reporters saw a few SUVs on the side of a main boulevard that appeared to have 
been broken into.

   In some areas, small groups of armed men were stationed in the streets. A 
video circulating online showed a man in military fatigues holding a rifle 
attempting to reassure residents of the Mezzeh neighborhood in Damascus that 
they would not be harmed.

   "We have nothing against you, neither Alawite, nor Christian, nor Shiite, 
nor Druze, but everyone must behave well, and no one should try to attack us," 
the fighter said.

   Prime minister says the government is still operational

   Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali, who remained in his post after Assad 
and most of his top officials vanished over the weekend, has sought to project 
normalcy.

   "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.

   He said the government is coordinating with the insurgents, and that he is 
ready to meet rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed 
al-Golani, who made a triumphal appearance at a famed Damascus mosque on Sunday.

   Syrians who only days ago were working at all levels of the bureaucracy in 
Assad's government were adjusting to the new reality.

   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."

   The rebels, meanwhile, said they would guarantee personal freedoms and would 
not impose Islamic dress on women. "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 General Command said in a statement on 
social media.

   Separately, a Syrian opposition war monitor said a top aide to Assad's 
brother, Maher, was found dead in his office near Damascus. A video that 
circulated on social media purportedly showed Maj. Gen. Ali Mahmoud covered 
with blood and with his clothes burned. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory 
for Human Rights said it was not clear if he was killed or died by suicide.

   Maher Assad led the army's 4th Armored Division, which played a major role 
in the civil war that erupted in 2011, after a popular uprising against Assad 
led to a violent crackdown on dissent and the rise of an insurgency.

   Israel confirms it has struck suspected chemical weapons, 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 on Monday. "That's why we 
attacked strategic weapons systems, like, for example, remaining chemical 
weapons, or long-range missiles and rockets, in order that they will not fall 
in the hands of extremists."

   Saar did not provide details about when or where the strikes took place.

   An AP journalist in Damascus reported airstrikes in the area of the Mezzeh 
military airport, southwest of the capital, on Sunday. The airport has 
previously been targeted in Israeli airstrikes. Strikes were also heard in the 
capital on Monday.

   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 expressed hope for a new era 
in Syria in which ethnic and religious groups can live peacefully under an 
inclusive government. But he 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."