The U.N. organization assisting in investigating the most serious crimes in Syria says the country’s new authorities were “very receptive” to its request for cooperation during a just-concluded visit to Damascus — and it is preparing to deploy.

In Syria, after 13 years of civil war, armed rebels took the capital Damascus, in a lightning advance, prompting President Bashar al-Assad to flee to Russia on 8. Much of the country is now run by rebels led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group,

Assad, old alliances have crumbled, and global powers are figuring out their relationships with Syria’s new de facto leaders.

Robert Petit, the head of the Independent Mechanism, described the visit as a “significant milestone” and a rare opportunity to discuss justice and accountability with Syrian officials.

And so, during the war, the Mediterranean became a graveyard, and Syrians who had already lived through bombardment watched as their family, their friends and their neighbors drowned. A photo of a little boy, Aylan Kurdi, emerged, his body lying face down on the shores of Turkey. The conscience of the world was briefly stirred.

The transitional Syrian authorities should urgently take steps to secure and preserve evidence of atrocities committed under the government of former President Bashar al-Assad, including key governmen

The British wife of Syrian tyrant Bashar al-Assad would likely have any plan to head back to the UK for medical treatment blocked with reports that she has leukaemia

Musbah Shaheen and Omar Dahi have been watching the fall of Assad’s regime from Amherst, where they teach college.

American Airlines briefly grounded all flights in the US on Christmas Eve due to an unspecified technical issue.