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

The Golan Heights, situated in the southwest corner of Syria and bordering Israel, Lebanon and Jordan, is a 1,000 square mile rocky plateau around 40 miles (60 kilometres) from Damascus, although it possesses a significance far beyond that and has been a political flashpoint for decades.

Israeli has occupied the Golan Heights since the 1980s and now its troops have seized the demilitarised buffer zone, in response to the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s brutal dictatorship in Syria.

Troops have also been deployed beyond the demilitarised buffer zone and into Syrian territory, with Israeli defence minister Israel Katz saying Israeli forces had been ordered to create a “sterile defence zone” in southern Syria, adding that they would not retain a permanent presence. Israel had previously described reports from Syrian sources that it had breached the buffer zone as “false”.

But what is the Golan Heights and why does Israel consider it so important?

The number of Palestinians killed in Israel’s invasion and bombardment of Gaza is now at 44,835 since October 7, the Gaza health ministry said on Thursday.

The military offensive has also wounded 106,356, the statement added.

Turkey-backed rebel forces are continuing their advances in northern Syria with an aim to “clear terrorism”, a Turkish defence ministry source said on Thursday.

The rebel forces are fighting a US-backed Kurdish militia in the region. Turkey has repeatedly told the US that “a terrorist organisation cannot be eliminated by using another terrorist organisation”, the source added.

The US is backing the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in its fight against Islamic State. The SDF is led by a Kurdish militia regarded by Ankara as a terrorist group.

Jordanian King Abdullah has agreed with German chancellor Olaf Scholz on the importance of an inclusive political process in Syria, a German government spokesperson said on Thursday.

The two leaders held a phone call on Thursday. "Both agreed that an inclusive political process in Syria was now very important and that the transition process needed to be supported. Both attached great importance to the protection of ethnic and religious minorities," the spokesperson said.

They also stressed the importance of Syria’s territorial integrity, he added.

The US foreign policy establishment sees the return of Donald Trump to the White House as an imminent threat to the bipartisan consensus in foreign policy matters.

Joe Biden was understood to be the return to a “normal” foreign policy approach after the turbulence of Trump 1.0.

Biden has been staunchly critical of the Kremlin and four-square behind Israel. He has ramped up pressure on China and not relaxed it on North Korea.

Yet in one area – vital to the security, at least of those who live in it – the Biden administration has broken ranks with a US foreign policy tradition dating back to 1919. He now has less than six weeks left in the White House in which to abandon the Kurds.

Mark Almond writes:

For miles, the bleached ribcages of bombed-out buildings on either side of the main highway north of Damascus flick past as you drive – a grim monument to some of the fiercest battles that took place between Bashar al-Assad’s forces and rebels at the start of the revolution more than a decade ago.

None of the residents of Jobar – once a revolutionary heartland – were able to return to or rebuild their homes as Syria’s civil war rolled on, even after the regime retook control.

Now, after Assad’s stunning defeat, families, some of whom returned from fleeing the country, pick through the dust-choked rubble of what was once their homes. They gather at Jobar’s chewed-up central graveyard to host the first funeral here in 13 years.

Our chief international correspondent Bel Trew reports:

Thousands of Syrians are attempting to flee Syria at the Masnaa border point with Lebanon, the only operational crossing between the two countries.

But many of them remain stuck on the Syrian side of the crossing and remain unable to cross, after the border was overwhelmed by a huge influx of travellers - going in both directions - since the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Many are members of Syrian minority groups, are living in fear of what a new Syria led by Islamist factions may mean for minorities, including the Alawites and Christians, many of whom weren’t in favour of the uprising against the Assad regime in 2011.

Seven children were among the 28 killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, Palestinian medical officials say.

It comes hours after the UN General Assembly approved a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and expressing support for Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, which Israel is set to ban.

One strike flattened a house in the Nuseirat refuge camp, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby city of Deir al-Balah.

Two other strikes killed 15 men who were among local committees established to secure aid convoys, the Associated Press reported.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has told his Israeli counterpart Israel Katz to remain in close contact over events in Syria, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

Washington is monitoring developments in Syria and supports an inclusive political transition, and will continue its mission to prevent the Islamic State militant group from rebuilding in Syria.

Following the collapse of Assad’s dictatorship, Israel said its jets conducted hundreds of strikes in Syria and destroyed much of Syria’s military infrastructure.

"Secretary Austin emphasized the importance of close consultation between the United States and Israel on events in Syria," the Pentagon said.

Syrian rebel commander Abu Mohammed al-Golani, who fronted the group responsible for the collapse of the Assad regime, has vowed not to pardon the former dictator’s henchmen.

On Wednesday afternoon, Syria’s state broadcaster posted the commander’s comments.

“We will not pardon those who were involved in the torture and liquidation of detainees and were the cause of this,” the leader of Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) said.

“We will pursue them in our country, and we demand that countries hand over to us those of these criminals who fled to them in order to achieve justice against them.”