Syria’s new leader takes on an utterly broken nation: ‘It’s all ruins – where do we even start?’
We drove the backbone of Syria, north from Damascus through Homs and Hama to Aleppo, and then south west, through the towns and villages of southern Idlib.
The scale of the devastation is almost impossible to comprehend. Yes, there is daily life and markets and bustling commercial life in the city centres.
But there are also ghost towns stretching on for mile after mile where frontlines were fought over and positions abandoned, tanks left to rot, minefields to maim.
The gutted carcasses of millions of homes, the signature of horrific firepower, Russian air strikes and Assad’s barrel bombs, flung at civilian life.
Eleven million people fled their homes during Syria’s 13-year civil war. This is the rubble and dust they left behind.
Kafr Nabl was an activist town in southern Idlib known, in the early years of the war, as the heart of the revolution.
Now there is not a soul about, but graffiti artists have been through since the fall of the regime and left a celebratory message: “The revolution is an idea. Kafr Nabl is free!”
On a hilltop nearby, Um Abdo and her husband Abu Abdo are busy pruning back olive trees next to what was an Iranian position, and before that their home.
“How are we going to be able to rebuild if we don’t have enough to eat,” says Um Abdo tearfully. “Look behind me, it’s all ruins. Where do we even start?”
She seems more upset about the destruction of her olive and fig trees than she is about her home. They are an elderly couple and they have been through hell.
Um Abdo lists thirty family members who were killed during the war, most of them, her two brothers included, by barrel bombs. Her husband spent three years in jail.
When he came out he found his village destroyed and his family living in displacement camps.
Now Assad is gone, they have decided to try life back home with their olive trees and their little grey puppy.
Their sons fight with HTS, and they are fans of its leader Ahmad al Sharaa. “He’s such a decent man with great manners,” Um Abdo says.
“A man of religion, a man with morals. Everything about him is moral. If he takes over, the entire country will be fine.”
‘How are we going to be able to rebuild if we don’t have enough to eat,’ says Um Abdo
A man we meet trying to fix his motorbike says: “Wherever he is there is security. Things are good.
“He doesn’t have an ego. He’s not strict. He doesn’t, for example, go around saying ‘execute this guy, execute that guy’. There’s none of that.
“He doesn’t go around saying you’re not allowed to smoke, we all smoke, it’s fine!”
It’s a message we hear repeatedly, that al Sharaa has brought stability to Idlib. That even those living in the huge displacement camps around Idlib feel safe, thanks to his Salvation Government.
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One of his signature achievements in Idlib was to stop the fighting between warring factions and bring them under one authority. His challenge now is to do the same across the whole of Syria.
He remains a wanted terrorist with a $10,000 bounty on his head. He was a jihadi, setting up Al Qaeda’s network in Syria – but he says he’s changed.
Idlib is run according to Sharia law but he seems to be suggesting that won’t be the case across the country. Suffice to say, it depends on what he does, not what he says.
What is painfully clear is that he takes on an utterly broken nation. As we’re driving towards Idlib, a van loaded down with family possessions makes its way towards us through the bombed-out streets.
We ask the mother inside what her plans are. She wants to go back to her home, even though it’s destroyed. She has a tent with her for her family, a little boy and a girl.
Her husband was arrested nine years ago and taken to Sednaya prison. She found out last week that he was dead.
Her husband was taken nine years ago – she found out he was dead last week
“I went blind from all the crying”, she says. “They killed him after torturing him and starving him. Do you know those iron presses that they used?
“My son was only one year old when they took him away. He doesn’t know anything about his father.”
Her son tries to soothe her. “Softly, softly,” he whispers as she sobs.
He is only ten. He shouldn’t have to do this.
A report into the deadly Lisbon Gloria funicular crash has said the cable linking the two carriages snapped.
The carriages of the city’s iconic Gloria funicular had travelled no more than six metres when they “suddenly lost the balancing force of the connecting cable”.
The vehicle’s brake‑guard immediately “activated the pneumatic brake as well as the manual brake”, the Office for the Prevention and Investigation of Aircraft Accidents and Railway Accidents said.
Flowers for the victims in Lisbon. Pic: AP
Pic: AP
But the measures “had no effect in reducing the vehicle’s speed”, as it accelerated and crashed at around 60kmh (37mph), and the disaster unfolded in less than 50 seconds.
Questions have been asked about the maintenance of the equipment, but the report said that, based on the evidence seen so far, it was up to date.
A scheduled visual inspection had been carried out on the morning of the accident, but the area where the cable broke “is not visible without dismantling.”
The Gloria funicular is a national monument that dates from 1914 and is very popular with tourists visiting the Portuguese capital.
The Gloria funicular connects Lisbon’s Restauradores Square to the Bairro Alto viewpoint
It operates between Restauradores Square in downtown Lisbon and the Bairro Alto neighbourhood.
The journey is just 276m (905ft) and takes just over a minute, but it operates up a steep hill, with two carriages travelling in opposite directions.
How the disaster unfolded
At around 6pm on Wednesday, Cabin No.2, at the bottom of the funicular, “jerked backward sharply”, the report said.
“After moving roughly 10 metres, its movement stopped as it partially left the tracks and its trolley became buried at the lower end of the cable channel.”
Cabin No.1, at the top, “continued descending and accelerated” before derailing and smashing “sideways into the wall of a building on the left side, destroying the wooden box [from which the carriage is constructed]”.
It crashed into a cast‑iron streetlamp and a support pole, causing “significant damage” before hitting “the corner of another building”.
Cable failed at top
Analysis of the wreckage showed the cable connecting the cabins failed where it was attached inside the upper trolley of cabin No.1 at the top.
The cable’s specified useful life is 600 days and at the time of the accident, it had been used for 337 days, leaving another 263 days before needing to be replaced.
The operating company regards this life expectancy as having “a significant safety margin”.
The exact number of people aboard each cabin when it crashed has not been confirmed.
Britons killed in disaster
Kayleigh Smith, 36, and William Nelson, 44, died alongside 14 others in Wednesday’s incident, including another British victim who has not yet been named.
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Five Portuguese citizens died when the packed carriage plummeted out of control – four of them workers at a charity on the hill – but most victims were foreigners.
Any remaining residents in Gaza’s largest city should leave for a designated area in the south, Israel’s military has warned.
Israeli forces are carrying out an offensive on suburbs of Gaza City, in the territory’s north, as part of plans to capture it – raising concern over an already-devastating humanitarian crisis.
While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced pressure to stop the attack and allow more aid in, the military has announced a new humanitarian zone in the south.
Spokesperson Avichay Adraee said Gaza City residents should head to a designated coastal area of Khan Younis.
There, he said they would be able to receive food, medical care and shelter.
On Thursday, Israel said it has control of around 40% of Gaza City and 75% of the entire territory of Gaza.
Many of the city’s residents had already been displaced earlier in the war, only to return later. Some of them have said they will refuse to move again.
That’s despite the military claiming it is within a few kilometres of the city centre, coming after weeks of heavy strikes.
But the war in Gaza has left Israel increasingly isolated in the diplomatic sphere, with some of its closest allies condemning the campaign that’s devastated the territory.
Just two weeks ago, a famine was declared in Gaza City and surrounding areas by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a globally recognised system for classifying the severity of food insecurity.
A resident runs with his belongings in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters
There is also concern within Israel, where calls have grown to stop the war and secure the release of the remaining 48 hostages.
Israel believes 20 of those hostages are still alive.
Even as relatives of those hostages lead protests, Mr Netanyahu continues to push for an all-or-nothing deal to release all hostages and defeat Hamas.
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On Friday, Donald Trump said Washington is in “very deep” negotiations with Hamas to release the captives.
“We said let them all out, right now let them all out. And much better things will happen for them but if you don’t let them all out, it’s going to be a tough situation, it’s going to be nasty,” he added.
Hamas is “asking for some things that are fine”, he said, without elaborating.
A man was heard screaming in the water moments before he died after a shark attack in Sydney, witnesses have said.
Emergency services responded to reports that a man in his 50s had suffered critical injuries at Long Reef Beach shortly after 10am (1am in the UK) on Saturday.
The man, whose identity has yet to be confirmed, was brought to shore but died at the scene, authorities have said.
Two sections of a surfboard have been recovered and taken for examination, and beaches near the area are closed as drones search for the animal.
Police are liaising with wildlife experts to determine the species of shark involved.
Pic: Sky News Australia
Surfer screamed ‘don’t bite me’
Speaking to Sky News Australia, witness Mark Morgenthal said he saw the attack and that the shark was one of the biggest he had ever seen.
“There was a guy screaming, ‘I don’t want to get bitten, I don’t want to get bitten, don’t bite me,’ and I saw the dorsal fin of the shark come up, and it was huge,” Mr Morgenthal said.
“Then I saw the tail fin come up and start kicking, and the distance between the dorsal fin and the tail fin looked to be about four metres, so it actually looked like a six-metre shark.”
Mark Morgenthal said it ‘looked like a six metre shark’ in the attack. Pic: Sky News Australia
Victim was a father and experienced surfer
New South Wales Police Superintendent John Duncan said at a press conference that the victim was 57 years old, calling the incident a “terrible tragedy”.
“The gentleman had gone out about 9.30 this morning with some of his friends, about five or six of his mates,” he added. “He’s an experienced surfer that we understand.
“Unfortunately, it would appear that a large, what we believe to be a shark, has attacked him. And as a result of that, he lost a number of limbs.
“His colleagues managed to make it back to the beach safely, and a short time later, his body was found floating in the surf, and a couple of other people went out and recovered it.”
Mr Duncan added that officers “understand he leaves behind a wife and a young daughter… and obviously tomorrow being Father’s Day is particularly critical and particularly tragic”.
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Local surfer and eyewitness Bill Sakula also told reporters at the beach: “It’s going to send shockwaves through the community.
“Everyone is going to be a little bit nervous for a while.”
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Surf Life Saving NSW has deployed a drone to search for further shark activity.
Its chief executive Steve Pearce said: “Our deepest condolences go to the family of the man involved in this terrible tragedy.”
Shark attacks are very rare, with this incident widely thought to be the first in New South Wales this year.
The last time a person in Sydney was killed in a shark attack was in February 2022 – the city’s first fatal shark attack since 1963.
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