As we've been reporting this morning, today's rallies started after Friday prayers across Syria.

This drone footage shows Muslim worshippers arriving at the landmark Umayyad Mosque in Damascus.

Sally Nabil
Reporting from Damascus

In a morgue in central Damascus, many bereaved families came looking for the dead bodies of their loved ones, who disappeared over the past decade, in the notorious prisons of the former President Bashar al-Assad.

I have seen people holding the pictures of their missing family members and trying to compare it to the dead bodies lying in bags, in front of them.

Some have managed to find their missing fathers, brothers, or sons, while others left the morgue sobbing as they couldn’t find any clues.

The morgue was full of bodies transferred from Saydnaya prison, widely known here as a human slaughterhouse.

"All of the bodies had clear signs of malnourishment, they were so skinny," says Aslan Ibrahim, a forensic expert at the hospital. He told me that the body of a journalist bore signs of torture: "His arm was broken, and his leg too, he also had a lot of bruises."

Feras Kilani
BBC Arabic special correspondent, in Damascus

Beneath the streets of Damascus I’ve gained access to one of the key sites of the former Syrian regime’s sprawling network of intelligence agencies which for decades attempted to brutally crush opposition movements.

In the basement of the state security headquarters, in the Kafr Sousa district of the city, is row after row of tiny cells - each just two metres by one metre and protected by thick steel doors.

Inside, dark stains mark the filthy walls. Detainees could be held in these cells for months while being interrogated and tortured.

They are just below street-level, on a busy road where every day thousands of ordinary Syrians passed by, going about their daily lives just a few metres from where their compatriots were being detained and tortured.

A short distance away is the General Intelligence Directorate, another part of Syria’s former network of spy agencies.

Here there are a huge numbers of records - evidence of how the Assad regime used to monitor its citizens.

There is row after row of paper files in cabinets and, in some rooms, piles of notebooks stacked from floor to ceiling.

Nearby is a computer server room. The floors and walls are a pristine white and black data storage units hum quietly.

The electricity has been cut to much of Damascus but it seems that this facility is so important it has its own power supply.

Image source, Reuters

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says there is a broad agreement on what Turkey and America would like to happen next in Syria, after the fall of the Assad regime.

The two countries have backed rival militant groups during Syria's civil war.

Speaking at a news conference after a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Blinken says it is also "imperative" to try and prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State group (IS) in Syria, saying they have "worked very hard and gave a lot over many years" to eliminate it.

Blinken also says he asked Turkey to use its influence to try and get Hamas to agree to a ceasefire deal in Gaza - saying he believes there are "encouraging signs" of progress being made.

As we've been reporting - Syrians are set to join mass rallies today to mark the end of the Assad family's five-decade rule of the country. The gatherings are expected to follow noon prayers which are getting under way about now.

The leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) - the rebel group which captured the capital Damascus last week - called on Syrians to take to the streets to celebrate the "victory of the revolution", according to the AFP news agency.

Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, addressed Syrians in a video shared on the Telegram messaging app.

Jeremy Bowen
International Editor

On a painted wall outside Damascus's Mustahed Hospital are photographs of the faces of dead men.

A constantly changing crowd of people examine them, squinting against the low winter sun at men who look as if they died in great pain. Noses, mouths and eye sockets are twisted, damaged and squashed.

Their bodies are in the hospital, brought to the city centre from another on the outskirts of Damascus. The medics say the dead were all prisoners.

A stream of wives, brothers, sisters and fathers come to the hospital looking for information. They're hoping most of all to find a body to bury.

They get as close as possible to the photos looking hard for anything on the faces that they recognise. Some of them video each picture to take home for a second opinion.

Dr Raghad Attar, a forensic dentist, was checking dental records left by families to try to identify bodies. She spoke calmly about how she was assembling a bank of evidence that could be used for DNA tests, then broke down when I asked her how she was coping.

"I came here yesterday. It was very difficult for me. We hope the future will be better but this is very hard. I am really sorry for these families. I am very sorry for them," she says.

• Read on for more about Syrians' hunt for disappeared relatives, and the fate of Assad's palace.

The first Friday prayers since rebel fighters seized power in Syria are about to start and we're expecting mass rallies to begin afterwards.

Today's gatherings will evoke memories of the anti-Assad demonstrations which took place in 2011 - before the deposed president began to crackdown on dissent leading to a 13-year civil war.

We're now seeing pictures from outside Umayyad Mosque in Damascus:

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Members of the Group of Seven nations - also known as the G7 - are planning to meet virtually today to discuss the ongoing situation in Syria.

The group - which includes the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan - says it's ready to support an orderly transition to an inclusive and non-sectarian government.

In a statement released on Thursday evening, the group said the next Syrian government must ensure it respects universal human rights - including women - and protect all Syrians, including religious and ethnic minorities.

Israel's defence minister has instructed its armed forces to be prepared to stay on the peak of Mount Hermon - in the buffer zone between Israel and Syria - through winter.

Israel Katz says stationing troops there is of "security importance to Israel" due to the ongoing situation in Syria. He adds that because of poor weather facilities will be placed on the mountain to allow soldiers to stay there.

In recent days, Israel has moved ground forces east from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights into the buffer zone and across the border with Syria.

As we've been reporting, Syrians will take to the streets later to mark the end of five decades of authoritarian rule by former President Bashar al-Assad.

Mutaz Bellah Alhallak, whose father was imprisoned by the Assad regime for more than a decade, has been speaking to the BBC from the city of Hama about his family's hopes for the future.

"They are celebrating every day. They are very happy. We have a really free and good life again," he told the Newsday programme on BBC world service.

Barbara Plett Usher
Reporting from Damascus

Demonstrations are expected around the country after the noon prayers – evoking memories of the Friday protests against Bashar al-Assad’s rule in the early days of pro-democracy rallies.

This time Syrians will be celebrating his downfall on what’s being called Victory Friday.

Regional and international leaders are consulting on how to help stabilise the country.

Members of the Group of Seven democratic powers have said they are ready to support an orderly transition to an inclusive and non-sectarian government – they are set to meet virtually later today.

The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is holding talks with Turkey’s president and foreign minister.

And Jordan will host a Syria crisis summit on Saturday that includes foreign ministers from Western and Arab nations as well as Turkey.

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage ahead of mass demonstrations in Syria celebrating the end of the Assad regime.

People are expected to gather across the country later this morning, days after former President Bashar al-Assad was ousted by rebel fighters.

Assad fled to Russia on Sunday, where he and his family have been given asylum, after rebels captured the capital Damascus.

Rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, has pledged to pursue officials suspected of torture and said he would close notorious Assad prisons.

Elsewhere, diplomatic moves are gathering pace to stabilise the country. Members of the Group of Seven democratic powers who will meet virtually today say they're ready to support an an inclusive and non-sectarian government

Our teams across Syria will be bringing you the latest from the ground, so stay with us.