Syria - live: US man Travis Timmerman found after months in Assad prison as rebels set to suspend constitution

Syria’s caretaker prime minister Mohammed al-Bashir has urged all Syrians who fled president Bashar al-Assad’s brutal dictatorship to return and help “rebuild” the Arab nation.

“My appeal goes out to all Syrians abroad: Syria is now a free country that has regained its pride and dignity. Come back,” he told Corriere della Sera.

“We need to rebuild, to get our country on its feet again, and we need everyone’s help.”

At least 7.4 million Syrians remained internally displaced and nearly 4.9 million were seeking refuge in neighbouring countries, the UN said in a 2024 report.

France has called on Israel to withdraw troops from the buffer zone between Israel and Syria which was captured by Benjamin Netanyahu’s forces swiftly after the fall of the Assad regime.

Mr Netanyahu said on Sunday he had ordered his ground forces to take control of the buffer zone established by a ceasefire agreement with Syria after armed rebel groups pushed out president Bashar al-Assad from Damascus and took power.

“Any military deployment in the separation zone between Israel and Syria is a violation of the disengagement agreement of 1974,” a French foreign ministry spokesperson said yesterday.

Israel’s move has been condemned by Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council and former president of Russia, held talks with Chinese president Xi Jinping on Thursday.

The pair discussed the crises in both Ukraine and Syria, according to the TASS state news agency.

Austria’s forced deportation of Syrian refugees back to their original homeland will only happen when it is safe, the foreign minister said.

Chancellor Karl Nehammer called for a reassessment of security in Syria to enable the return of refugees to their home country. Similar to many centre-right parties in Europe, the ruling People’s Party (OVP) is under pressure from the far-right.

Asked when the returns might happen, Alexander Schallenberg told Reuters that “when it is possible, we will do it immediately”. He added: "I don't know (when). Can you see into the future?"

Austria was the first of more than a dozen European countries to announce a suspension on processing Syrians’ asylum applications.

The fall of the Assad regime in Syria has led to questions over Russia’s ability to sustain its military adventures abroad. Russia had supported Assad militarily for over a decade, building on long-standing ties between Moscow and Damascus. But the rapid advance of anti-government forces this month saw Russia apparently powerless to influence the situation beyond a number of airstrikes (as always, apparently mostly delivered on civilian targets) in support of government forces.

That has inevitably led people to draw conclusions about Russia’s ability to project power overseas, and what it may mean for the course of the war in Ukraine.

But hasty comparisons should be avoided. There is a world of difference between a distant operation in support of a friend of Moscow clinging to power and a major war on Russia’s own borders for territory which Vladimir Putin has declared should be Moscow’s to rule.

Keir Giles writes:

A picture has emerged of Travis Timmerman, the American who was detained in Syria for seven months.

Mr Timmerman was trying to make his own way out of Syria after being freed from prison after the lightning offensive which ousted the Bashar al-Assad regime on the weekend.

Russia’s deputy foreign minister said bilateral relations between Moscow and Ankara have not detariorated as a result of the Syrian civil war, according to the Interfax news agency.

“We are in dialogue with Turkey on all issues,” Alexander Grushko said.

The family of a US journalist who was captured in Syria more than a decade ago has said they are “incredibly hopeful” he will be returned.

Austin Tice was just 31 years old when he was captured close to Damascus in August 2012, while covering the Syrian civil war. It is believed he was taken by the Syrian government.

The complexity of the situation in Syria had made it difficult to know who had captured him or where he was being held, but after rebels ousted the Assad regime last week, the family had renewed hopes the journalist could be recovered.

Tom Watling reports:

An American who spent seven months in Syrian prison has been found be rebels searching the country.

Travis Timmerman was trying to make his own way out of Syria after being freed from prison after the lightning offensive which ousted the Bashar al-Assad regime on the weekend, CBS News reported.

Mr Timmerman, of Missouri, told CBS that he had entered Syria without permission for “spirirual purposes” before he was detained. On Monday, he was freed by two armed men with AK-47s.