We're able to bring you footage now of strikes on the Mezzeh military airbase in Damascus, seemingly from earlier today.

The BBC has confirmed the location of the filming but can't say what caused the explosions.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Israel targeted the base, and surrounding areas, with air strikes on Sunday. The Israeli military has not commented.

Image source, PA Media

When asked if the UK government would engage with the Syrian rebel group that has overthrown President Bashar al-Assad, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer says it is "very early days".

"We do need a political solution," he tells the media in Abu Dhabi, during his first trip to the region since becoming prime minister.

He adds "it is a good thing that Assad has gone, a very good thing for the Syrian people".

• For more on Starmer welcoming the fall of Assad's "barbaric regime", we have this piece

Lyse Doucet
Chief international correspondent

Image source, EPA

It was disconcerting to sit down with President Assad. The British-trained eye doctor had a polite mild-mannered bearing which seemed to belie his fearsome reputation. Normally during interviews you start with a brief private conversation, with me he spoke about his tennis lessons.

We met in October 2007, just after Israel attacked what it later confirmed was a suspected nuclear reactor. When the cameras were rolling, Assad kept denying it was anything more than an empty shed. In our conversation after, he repeated his denials.

I told him he would not convince anyone. In 2011 the nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, concluded it was “very likely” to have been a nuclear reactor.

On another occasion, I joined a small group invited to an informal briefing with the young president who succeeded his father Hafez al-Assad in 2000 because his older brother Bassel, groomed for the job, died in a car crash.

We all remarked on how he spoke without ever looking to the senior Syrian officials flanking him. He exuded a new confidence that he was now in charge. It was said the only person he really feared was his mother who wanted him to protect his father’s legacy.

Back to the present, and one diplomat told me that his most recent effort to persuade Assad to engage in a political dialogue with the opposition was met by the former president just quietly saying “interesting” to every suggestion.

In the end, his stubborn refusal to ease his grip on power and to end his repressive rule brought him down.

Bashar al-Assad was a colossal disappointment to the Westpublished at 20:06 Greenwich Mean Time 8 December

20:06 GMT 8 December

Frank Gardner
Security correspondent

Hopes were high in the West for this young, British-trained opthalmologist when he inherited the presidency of Syria in 2000.

He would be a breath of fresh air, people said, after three decades of stifling, autocratic rule by his late father, Hafez, remembered most for ordering the massacre of over 10,000 citizens in Hama in 1982.

Like other youthful Arab rulers who took power that same year – King Abdullah II in Jordan and King Mohammed VI in Morocco – Bashar was said to be a moderniser keen on pulling Syria into the digital age.

But Syrians we spoke to at his inauguration in Damascus that year had other ideas. "He’s weak," they said. "He won’t last six months."

In fact he lasted 24 years, but only thanks to Russia, Iran and Hezbollah shoring up his rule when it nearly collapsed under rebel advances in 2015.

Western disillusionment began long before that, in 2001, as the Syrian President refused to share British PM Tony Blair’s condemnation of all terrorist groups.

"You call them terrorists, we call them freedom fighters," was how Bashar al-Assad referred to the armed Palestinian groups his country hosted.

He soon proved he was no reformer - and when his people asked for change he met their demands with bullets, barrel bombs, sarin gas and torture on an industrial scale.

Image source, Getty Images

A short while ago we heard from US President Joe Biden, who warned the Islamic State group against trying to take advantage of any vacuum created by the power transition in Syria. He said the US had carried out around a dozen "precision air strikes" within Syria against IS targets today.

We've now just had an update from US Central Command (Centcom) which is responsible for US interests in the Middle East, Central and South Asia.

Centcom says the US carried out more than 75 airstrikes on Sunday in a bid to "eliminate ISIS camps in central Syria". It says there are "no indications of civilian casualties".

"There should be no doubt - we will not allow ISIS to reconstitute and take advantage of the current situation in Syria," says General Michael Erik Kurilla, Centcom commander.

"All organisations in Syria should know that we will hold them accountable if they partner with or support ISIS in any way."

Rebecca Hartmann
Reporting from the White House

"A moment of historic opportunity, for the long suffering people of Syria to build a better future for their country," is how President Biden described the fall of the Assad regime in Syria.

President Biden pointed to the collapse of support for the regime from Iran, Hezbollah and Russia saying that all three were militarily weaker now than when he took office, making their support for the regime impossible.

President Biden said US support for sanctions, diplomacy and targeted military support when necessary had helped open up new opportunities in Syria and the region.

However, President Biden also called it "a moment of risk and uncertainty" for the country.

He pledged support for Syria’s neighbours including, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Israel against any threat that could arise from Syria in the transition period. He said he plans to speak to the leaders of those countries in the coming days.

The president warned of the IS group trying to take advantage of any vacuum saying the US "would not let that happen", saying the US had carried out around a dozen "precision airstrikes" within Syria against IS targets today.

The president said the US would work with all Syrian groups to work towards an independent, sovereign Syria and the US would "do all it can to support them" including providing humanitarian relief.

Speaking about rebel groups in Syria the president said that "while they’re saying the right things now", the US would continue to assess not just "on their words but also on their actions".

What might happen to Russia's bases in Syria?published at 19:24 Greenwich Mean Time 8 December

19:24 GMT 8 December

Olga Ivshina
BBC Russian Service

As we've reported, the Kremlin says they are "maintaining ties" with the Syrian opposition and they have got guarantees for their military bases in the region. But the situation is not that easy.

Currently, there are about 7,500 Russian military personnel in Syria, most of whom are stationed at key Russian military facilities in Tartus and Latakia.

But several dozen Russian soldiers - mostly elite special forces operators - are scattered across Syria. Some of these units managed to retreat closer to Russian bases as rebels advanced, but dozens of personnel were cut off from the main group.

This was confirmed by two retired Russian officers who keep close contacts with soldiers serving in Syria. Both of them wrote about it in their blogs.

The future of the military bases is less uncertain. According to satellite images, studied by the BBC Russian, most Russian navy ships left the Tartus naval base on 3 December.

Combat aircrafts in Latakia, on the other hand, remained at the airfield. There are unconfirmed suggestions that the evacuation of the first planes and personnel from that base is expected to begin tomorrow.

Russian officials have yet to comment on these reports.

Steve Rosenberg
BBC Russia editor

Moscow is trying to find a language and continue a dialogue with Syria's new leadership, and its future relationship with them.

Russia's big concern is the fate of its two military bases - the Hmeimim air base and a naval facility at Tartus, both on the coast - both of which have given Moscow a foothold in the eastern Mediterranean in the last few years.

Even though Moscow had supported Bashar al-Assad for nine years and sent him military assistance to shore him up and keep him in power, now that he's been toppled, Russia is trying to find a dialogue with the new leadership in Syria.

Russia is now stressing that all along they have wanted a political settlement of this crisis.

What's interesting here is that until very recently, the Russian media was referring to what it's calling the "armed opposition in Syria" as "terrorists". That word has gone out of reporting here and they are now being called the "armed opposition" or "opposition".

US President Joe Biden is speaking now about the fall of President Assad.

He calls it a moment of "historic opportunity", and says neither Russia, Iran, nor Hezbollah could save the regime.

Biden also says the US will engage with "all Syrian groups" now Assad has left.

We'll have more from President Biden soon.

As Kremlin sources say Syria's ex-president Bashar al-Assad is in Moscow, here's more from Russian state media.

The RIA Novosti news agency reports that the Kremlin is in contact with the leaders of the armed Syrian opposition, "who have guaranteed security to the Russian military bases and diplomatic establishments in Syria".

The agency quotes an unnamed source in the Kremlin as saying Russia has "always called for a search for a political solution in the Syrian crisis".

"We hope the Syrian dialogue will continue in the interests of the Syrian people and the development of bilateral relations between Russia and Syria," the source adds.

Earlier, Russian media agencies said that Assad and his family have been granted political asylum in Moscow.

Steve Rosenberg
BBC Russia editor, in Moscow

Image source, Getty Images

It was Russian firepower that had helped keep Bashar al-Assad in power for the last nine years.

But, in a matter of days, the Kremlin's Syria project has unravelled, with Moscow, apparently, powerless to do anything about it.

The fall of the Assad regime is a blow to Russia's prestige.

By sending thousands of troops to shore up President Assad in 2015, one of Russia's key objectives had been to assert itself as a global power.

It was Vladimir Putin's first major challenge to the power and dominance of the West, away from the former Soviet space. And a successful one, too, so it seemed.

In return for military assistance, the Syrian authorities awarded Russia 49-year leases on the air base in Hmeimim and its naval base in Tartus. Russia had secured an important foothold in the Eastern Mediterranean. The bases became hubs for transferring military contractors in and out of Africa.

Assad was Russia's staunchest ally in the Middle East. The Kremlin had invested heavily in him. It had poured resources - financial, military, political - into keeping him in power. The Russian authorities will struggle to present his toppling as anything but a setback for Moscow.

• For more on this story, Steve Rosenberg's full piece delves deeper into the blow to Russia's prestige.

Deposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family have arrived in Moscow, Russian state media agencies report, citing sources in the Kremlin.

Reports also say that Assad and his family have been granted asylum by Russia.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify the information.

David Gritten
BBC News

Image source, Reuters

For the past four years, it had felt like the civil war was effectively over.

Assad's government had regained control over most of Syria's cities with the help of Russia, Iran and Iranian-backed militias like Hezbollah, and the front lines were largely frozen.

However, large parts of the country were still out of the government's control.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and its allies said on 27 November that they had launched an offensive to "deter aggression", accusing the government and allied Iran-backed militias of escalating attacks on civilians.

But it came at a time when the government had been weakened by years of war, sanctions and corruption - with allies Russia and Iran preoccupied by other conflicts.

The Iran-backed group Hezbollah had recently suffered from Israel's offensive in Lebanon. Israeli strikes had eliminated Iranian military commanders in Syria, and Russia was distracted by the war in Ukraine.

Without them, Assad's forces were left exposed.

Feras Kilani
BBC Arabic Special Correspondent, in Damascus

Image source, Getty Images

It was a moment no one could have imagined just 24 hours earlier. Without prior warning or arrangements, Abu Mohammad al-Jawlani, the leader of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), made a surprising visit to the Great Umayyad Mosque in Old Damascus.

Seeing him from just a few metres away felt surreal. This mosque had long been a symbolic site where Bashar al-Assad and his late father, Hafez al-Assad, would often perform Eid prayers—a symbolic act for the rulers of the capital.

Surrounded by hundreds of fighters and personal guards, Jawlani entered the mosque, performed the Maghrib prayer, and delivered a brief address to those gathered around him amid chants of victory and “Allahu Akbar".

Earlier, Jawlani had toured key areas of the city, including the iconic Umayyad Square, surrounded by Syria’s most significant government institutions, such as the General Staff Headquarters and state television. There, he prayed before continuing his tour. I was present in the square, but his guards kept everyone at a distance as he approached.

While many Syrians expressed joy at what they see as a turning point, their celebrations were tinged with apprehension about what lies ahead. The acrid smell of gunpowder still fills the air in Damascus, a city locked down and nearly deserted. As Jawlani’s tour unfolded, plumes of smoke rose into the sky, obscuring the future and raising questions about the days and weeks to come.

Dressed in his military attire, Jawlani projected the image of a ruler in Damascus, standing over a city—and a nation—that had been under the grip of Bashar al-Assad and the Baath regime for decades. In less than two weeks, that regime has crumbled, leaving little more than a memory.

Yet, with Jawlani's controversial jihadist past, the question remains: can he succeed in governing the capital and its surrounding territories?

Image source, Getty Images

We're bringing you more now on Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), who made a speech at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus earlier.

In 2013, the US named Jawlani as a specially designated global terrorist and offered a $10m reward for information that leads to his capture.

But the rebel leader has for years endeavoured to shift the perception of his organisation to one that could be accepted by Syrians as an alternative to the Assad regime.

His Islamist militant group has played a key role in bringing down the Assad regime. HTS was set up in 2012 under a different name, the al-Nusra Front, and pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda the following year.

In 2016, Al-Nusra broke ties with al-Qaeda, and it took the name Hayat Tahrir al-Sham when it merged with other factions a year later.

But the UN, US, UK and a number of other countries continued to consider HTS as an al-Qaeda affiliate and frequently refer to it as al-Nusra Front.

Image source, EPA

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says the fall of President Bashar al-Assad's "cruel dictatorship" will offer opportunities, but "not without risks".

She says Europe will help safeguard "national unity" and rebuild "a Syrian state that protects all minorities".

"We are engaging with European and regional leaders and monitoring developments," she adds.

Lina Sinjab
Reporting from Damascus

BBC Middle East Correspondent Lina Sinjab, who is from Syria, is in Damascus today taking in the aftermath of the fall of the Assad regime.

Earlier, she told the BBC News channel that this is "the first time I drove through the border crossing without fear of detention, without fear of arrest".

You can hear more from Lina in the video below.

Barbara Plett Usher
Reporting from Damascus

Image source, Joanna Majzhoub / BBC

The sound of another massive explosion in Damascus. This is the second one we’ve heard.

Earlier reports (see previous post) said Israel had struck a major security complex in the Kafr Sousa district along with a research centre where it had previously said Iranian scientists developed missiles, but we haven’t been able to verify that.

We did see a big fire that seemed to set off smaller explosions.

Image source, Reuters

As we reported earlier, strikes have been heard in Damascus in the past few hours and large plumes of black smoke have been seen.

Reuters is citing two regional security sources as saying that Israel has conducted three airstrikes against a major security complex in Damascus's Kafr Sousa district, along with a research centre where Israel previously said Iranian scientists developed missiles.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, says Israel carried out at least three airstrikes on Syria today, including on a research centre near Damascus.

The Israeli military has not commented.

Jon Donnison
Reporting from Jerusalem

After more than a year of war in the Middle East, Israel already has its hands full. But the pace of events in Syria, its northern neighbour, will be of real concern.

Israel’s military has already moved reinforcements to the occupied Golan Heights - which it captured from Syria in 1967.

Benjamin Netanyahu has announced his forces would temporarily seize the so-called buffer zone between the two countries which has existed since 1974.

The IDF also warned residents in five villages in southern Syria to stay in their homes because Israel would not hesitate to act if it felt it needed to.

In normal times such actions would be seen as hugely provocative and enough to start a war. Israel is especially concerned about who might get their hands on Bashar Al Assad’s chemical weapons.

During the 2011 Syrian uprising Israel made the calculation that President Assad, despite being an ally of both Iran and Hezbollah was a better bet than what might follow his regime. It is an indication of just how complex this region is.

Israel will now be trying to calculate what comes next in Syria. Like everyone, it can only guess.