assad and his family are in moscow, having been granted political asylum. celebrations continue in syria — it's the end of a family dynasty that ruled for more than half a century. you can hear the sound of celebratory gunfire. people driving around in cars, giving peace signs saying life is going to be so much better. almost 120,000 properties in the uk remain without power, because of storm darragh as the clean—up continues. jay z is accused of raping a 13—year—old girl along with fellow rapper sean �*diddy�* combs in a civil lawsuit. he denies the claim.

a very warm welcome to the programme. the family dynasty that controlled syria for more than half a century is no longer in power, with president bashar al assad having fled the country and rebel forces now in control of damascus. russian state media has announced that he and his family are in moscow and have been granted political asylum. in damascus, people poured into the main square, chanting "freedom," after the rebels seized control, seemingly bringing to an end a civil war that's lasted 13 brutal years. the un security council to hold an emergency meeting later today to discuss the fall of bashar assad's regime in syria. western leaders have welcomed the fall of assad. president biden has described it as a fundamental act ofjustice — but also a moment of risk and uncertainty. the pentagon said the us carried out strikes against over 75 targets linked to the islamic state group in syria. the uk prime minister sir keir starmer welcomed the fall

of bashar al—assad's "barbaric regime" in syria, as he called for the restoration of "peace and stability". meanwhile israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu has claimed the collapse of the syrian government was a direct result of his country's forceful action against hezbollah and iran. israeli ground forces also advanced beyond the demilitarized zone around the golan heights on the israel—syria border for the first time in 50 yea rs. with me is said shehata from bbc arabic. just bring us up to date on some of the latest developments. let's start with the us to begin with and its operations in syria in the last 24 operations in syria in the last 2a hours. operations in syria in the last 24 hem-— operations in syria in the last 24 hours. ~ . . ., ., ,, 24 hours. according to the us centre of— 24 hours. according to the us centre of command _ 24 hours. according to the us centre of command they - 24 hours. according to the us

centre of command they said | 24 hours. according to the us. centre of command they said it launched more than, targeted more than 75 targets of what is called the islamic state personnel and camps. they are still there and according to americans, in the first six months of 2020 for, 153 attacks conducted and launched by the so—called islamic state. still active in northeast area and iraq and also other areas and more than 10,000 prisoners... controlled by the forces. in addition there is more than 45,000 relatives in camps and all of them can carry more tax.

in anarchy and chaos they are active and what happened before. they are dangerous and a threat. they need to take some actions to mitigate any potential threat. they are dangerous and they need other party in syria, to be on the same page with them. assad fled when the rebel— same page with them. assad fled when the rebel group _ same page with them. assad fled when the rebel group swept - same page with them. assad fled when the rebel group swept into l when the rebel group swept into damascus. this group is now on a terrorist list, what will happen now?— a terrorist list, what will ha en now? . ., ., happen now? there are talks to lift it from _ happen now? there are talks to lift it from the _ happen now? there are talks to lift it from the terrorism - happen now? there are talks to lift it from the terrorism list - lift it from the terrorism list because this group were described as a terrorist organisation. they cannot deal with them. the political reality is they are in power and direct control in damascus and direct control in damascus and other areas, leading the militant rebel groups. the only

way to remove them from the terrorism list. there is moderate discourse now. they say no attack for public organisations. in addition with cooperating with the current assyrian prime minister to make the government go and do their jobs until there is transitional powers. this change of discourse is giving assurances for the west, especially the west and he established a conservationist covenant and also a civil government. trying to give assurance to the west that he is not going to be understated anymore. is not going to be understated an more. a, . .

is not going to be understated an more. . ., 2 anymore. bashar al assad's family fled _ anymore. bashar al assad's family fled to _ anymore. bashar al assad's family fled to moscow. - anymore. bashar al assad's i family fled to moscow. russia called a security council meeting today that will take place later. what can we expect? place later. what can we “peel?— place later. what can we exect? ~ , . ., ~ ., expect? we expect talking that all forces in _ expect? we expect talking that all forces in syria _ expect? we expect talking that all forces in syria and _ expect? we expect talking that all forces in syria and other - all forces in syria and other militant groups will advance to be stronghold. between turkiye and assyria a main players in this area and to find a political solution. and talk about the resolution in which drew a map, a about the resolution in which drewa map, a roadmapforthe peace where there is negotiation, transitions, elections, supervised, as it is fair the election will be and written by the syrian people and open for all sectors and all groups from inside syria and outside assyria. the hope

is a resolution is reality so it was see a better future for those syrians.— it was see a better future for those syrians. and briefly, you know peeple — those syrians. and briefly, you know people personally - those syrians. and briefly, you know people personally in - know people personally in damascus and in other parts of sarah, what have they said to you? sarah, what have they said to ou? , , , u, you? there is still, they can hear some _ you? there is still, they can hear some bulletin - you? there is still, they can l hear some bulletin explosions but there is no violence, knowledge people were killing. so far there is control. some looting has happened as is expected but so far no violence and we are expecting better future and hoping the transitional period will not be long and peace will prevail. thank you for bringing us up—to—date on some of the latest developments. let's take a look at events in damascus on sunday. 0ur correspondent barbara plett—usher is there — the bbc is the only british broadcaster currently with news teams in the city.

here's her report. car horns beep. this is an extraordinary moment, a seismic change in syria's balance of power. the strongman of damascus, bashar al—assad, is gone. rebels have declared victory. we were the first western journalists to reach the capital, just hours after it fell. this is where people are celebrating in the central umayyad square, civilians and rebels. you can hear the sound of celebratory gunfire. people are driving around in their cars, they are giving me peace signs. they are saying that life is going to be so much better now that bashar al—assad is gone. but there is a mix ofjoy and fear in the city. there are those who supported bashar al—assad, who felt they were protected by him, and now they're wondering what is going to happen. here, i spoke to people who have long been waiting for his downfall. "thank you, thank

you", she says. "the tyrant has fallen, the tyrant has fallen!" many of her family died under president assad's rule, some in prison. my cousin, my son, my family. all, all... all of them. how are you feeling? translation: it is an indescribable feeling. | we are so happy. after all the years of dictatorship we have lived through, we were imprisoned in 2014 and now we're out, thank god. we won because of our men, and ourfighters, and now we're at the moment that we are going to build the greatest syria. the old syria has gone, with breathtaking speed, the army melting away in the face of the rebel advance. last week, it was aleppo, yesterday the city of homs, last night the outskirts of damascus. when they arrived, the rebels went straight to a notorious prison to set the inmates free. today, their leader took

a victory tour of damascus, visiting the historic umayyad mosque. abu mohammed al—jawlani, head of the islamic group hayat tahrir al—sham. my colleague was there for bbc arabic. chanting. translation: a historic moment, in every sense of the word - - abu mohammed al—jawlani here for the first time, in the great umayyad mosque. the rebel commander has been playing down past links to al-qaeda, saying he wants to build a syria for all its people. from the syrian prime minister, also a message of calm. translation: we are all. concerned about this country and its institutions and facilities.

i am here in my home, and i do not intend to leave it, except in a peaceful manner, in order to ensure the continuation of the work of public institutions. the president fled, as the rebels closed in. reports in russia now say he's turned up in moscow, a statue of his father pulled down, shortly before he flew out of the country. his damascus residence now a tourist attraction, stripped bare of anything valuable, of anything at all. we saw people carrying out furniture, with no one trying to stop them. the rebels may have brought freedom but not security. looters have been breaking into buildings here, too, deepening anxiety about this in—between time without a government in charge. definitely a freedom, but the transition has to happen super—quick. 0ur president shouldn't have just left. he should have taken the proper measures that are needed for him to actually give at least the army or the police, you know, control over those areas until a new president comes in, but he was just purely selfish and he left.

the country is hoping for peace — and fearing chaos. different groups control different areas, no one knows how this will play out, but whatever happens here will be felt across the middle east. let's go live to syria now and speak to abdo fayyad — a syrian—born journalist and filmmaker talking to us from idlib and who visited aleppo yesterday. a warm welcome. talk us through what you witnessed.— what you witnessed. hello. first i would _ what you witnessed. hello. first i would like _ what you witnessed. hello. first i would like to - what you witnessed. hello. first i would like to correct| first i would like to correct one thing. yesterday i was in hamas city and on the 30th of november i was in aleppo after a few days of opposition forces controlled the city. when i was there i saw the people, they were surprised about what was happening. this was before the

assad regime left syria, phil lead syria for the people spoke about their fear, they are scared, wondering, they don't know what to do and what is happening. a woman talked to me and said i don't know what to do, can i drive my car? can i move in the city? i told are of course you can move and a lot of people are moving and watching what is going on in the centre of the city. this woman explained and said there is a lot of things missing, after this we don't have bread, fuel, we don't have anything. i told her in this chaos, these things will happen. i hope you stay safe and if anybody talks to you, you can talk about it to you, you can talk about it to any of the generalists with me right now. yesterday i was in hamas city and there is a

lot of different because bashar al assad has fled the country and opposition forces took control. in a matter of five days. people are celebrating and there is a lot of roads cut off due to the celebrations. this city is very rich culturally, different backgrounds. and it is a minority sector and i went to the city and saw people celebrating and raising their hand with victory signs, holding the syria revolution flag. they are celebrating and saying they lost their family

to bashar al assad prisons and kidnapping and torturing due to his army and militias. they said they are very happy bashar al assad has finally fled the country and left. there will be some chaos in the country. it is a large space of size, it will take time to make it more secure. but as i saw so far, everything is going well. we will have to wait and see how everything will go forward. just very briefly, you described it very well help people feel in different cities, celebration and also nervous about the future. what is your hope for the future? i

hope syria will be for all syrians and everything goes well from here. as a displeased syrian, i am well from here. as a displeased syrian, iam notjust well from here. as a displeased syrian, i am notjust a journalist, i am a syrian also, displeased from my village for over five years and now i have the chance to go and see my house that was destroyed and stolen by the syrian regime and its militias, destroyed its militias, destroyed completely. i get the chance completely. i get the chance now to go back to my home and now to go back to my home and take my mother and father, they completely. i get the chance are very excited but now to go back to m father, and completely. i get the chance now to go back to m father, they take my mother and father, they are very excited but unfortunately, the dangers of unfortunately, the dangers of the syrian regime has not entered because all of our not the syrian regime has not entered because all of our village, in the countryside and dancers behind. ~ , ., village, in the countryside and surrounding filled with surrounding filled with landmines, carmine's, two days landmines, carmine's, two days ago one of our village men was ago one of our village men killed by one of these mines landmines, carmine's, two days ago one one ii’ village men landmines, carmine's, two days ago one one of 'illage men landmines, carmine's, two days ago one one of these men landmines, carmine's, two days ago one one of these mines are even after bashar al assad killed by one of these mines are even after bashar assad has left, he left a lot of are even after bashar al assad has left, he left a dangers behind.-

has left, he left a lot of are even after bashar al assad has left, he left we are even after bashar al assad has left, he left- are all of describing what you are all experiencing at the moment, thank you forjoining us live this morning. we wish you all the very best. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

let's bring you some other news now. clean—up efforts are ongoing after parts of the uk were battered by storm darragh over the weekend. tens of thousands of people have faced another night without power after days of strong winds. a final yellow weather warning for wind in england and wales expired on sunday evening, as the storm moves further into europe. gusts of up to 58mph inland and 67mph in coastal areas were recorded throughout the day, and travel disruption also continued. dozens of flood warnings are

still in place across the uk due to river levels swelling after days of downpours, while localised clean up efforts are ongoing to clear fallen trees and debris. if you are out to be on the road or by train, to have a chat before you set off. to have a chat before you set off. us president—elect donald trump has said he will look at pardons for those involved in the 2021 us capitol riot on his first day back in office next month. "these people are living in hell," he told nbc�*s meet the press in his first broadcast network interview since winning november's election. the republican also vowed to end automatic citizenship for anyone born in the country, but offered to work with democrats to help some undocumented immigrants who were brought to the us as children. let's get some of the

day's other news now. we will have more of what he had to say on business today because he had a lot to say on tariffs and the federal reserve. us media is reporting that rapper and businessmanjay—z, whose real name is shawn carter, is accused in a civil lawsuit of raping a 13—year—old girl in 2000. the lawsuit reportedly claims that carter assaulted the girl along with sean �*diddy�* combs. in the lawsuit, which was refiled on sunday with carter's name as a defendant, the anonymous accuser said the assault happened after she was driven to an mtv video music awards after—party in new york. in a statement posted, then quickly deleted on instagram, carter strongly denied the accusations. the australian federal police say an arson attack on a melbourne synagogue last week is was likely a "terrorist act". an eyewitness to the attack said two people wearing masks

spread liquid inside the synagogue before it was quickly engulfed in flames. members of the congregation were inside at the time. one person was injured. three suspects are being investigate in connection with the attack. the head of the west african economic bloc has congratulated ghana's president—elect, john mahama, on his victory in saturday's presidential election. mr mahama's main rival, vice—president mahamudu bawamia, conceded defeat earlier on sunday. the electoral commission is yet to release official results and has urged patience, saying tensions between rival supporters at some counting centres had delayed its proceedings. let's go back to our top story and the events in syria, where bashar al—assad has fled the country. hussein ibish is a senior resident scholar at the arab gulf states institute in washington.

give us your reaction to what has been happening over the weekend. it has been happening over the weekend. , , ., weekend. it is very heartening to see one _ weekend. it is very heartening to see one of— weekend. it is very heartening to see one of the _ weekend. it is very heartening to see one of the longest - to see one of the longest standing and most bloodthirsty dictatorships swelling. 0n the other hand the group that has come to power or are led the rebellion was formerly an affiliate of isis and decided it would be a good idea to become an affiliate of al-qaeda instead. they say they are moderate and are saying all the right things but in fact have a track record of governing in the north and it is not a very reassuring one, it involves a lot of repression and shaking people down and using islamic taxation to squeeze money out of them. that is on the one hand, on the other hand there is also the possibility of further fragmentation is also the possibility of furtherfragmentation in is also the possibility of further fragmentation in syria. evenif further fragmentation in syria. even if this group were to kind

of create a regime that is better than their track record would suggest, you still have the potential for a lot of other fragmentation the potential for a lot of otherfragmentation in the potential for a lot of other fragmentation in syria unless they can really produce an incredibly tolerant and inclusive system that seems unlikely to me. in inclusive system that seems unlikely to me.— unlikely to me. in terms of what you — unlikely to me. in terms of what you just _ unlikely to me. in terms of what you just talked - unlikely to me. in terms of| what you just talked about, unlikely to me. in terms of- what you just talked about, the outlook and what the new government will look like and its formulation, to what extent will neighbouring countries or outside actors try and influence that? how will they be able to influence the? that is a good _ be able to influence the? that is a good question. _ be able to influence the? twat is a good question. turkiye is the one country with a lot of influence over the organisation that has spearheaded the opposition victory. but there were other militias involved many of them are closer, the syrian national army so—called,

virtually a proxy of turkiye. even one of the questions will be how much influence will turkiye have to have in syria and how much will it succeed in having? the other really big question is what about russia? russia has been the dominant outside power outside of the middle east because there was iran and hezbollah and other regional powers they were influential but russia was the global power closest to him. russia will be looking to maintain its naval base and air base. a coastal town and the alloy dominated north—west of the country. there may be an impulse on part of the

community and remnants of the regime that feel very vulnerable to retribution and very vulnerable to vengeance and score settling, to try and regroup and create a kind of autonomous zone and exactly the areas where russia would be looking to preserve its military outposts in syria. there is potential confluence of interests where you could get a kind of stateless with russian bakken north—west assyria. assad fled leaving some very powerful forces that still exist that were deeply implicated in the regime the presidential guard, for the military italian and other forces that were i think ready to possibly defend damascus and could still be a major fighting force. if they decided to

regroup and move their power to the northeast of the country in collaboration with russia, they could create a second state letter. there is already accredited one in the north and there be another one and indeed more than that.— more than that. thank you for our more than that. thank you for your time _ more than that. thank you for your time and _ more than that. thank you for your time and giving - more than that. thank you for your time and giving us - more than that. thank you for your time and giving us your | your time and giving us your reaction to what has been happening. we do have a live page on the bbc website, i will be back shortly with business today. hello, there. thousands of homes are still without power, particularly across northern ireland, thanks to storm darragh over the weekend, and with all the rain that fell over the weekend, and for the past few weeks, the ground does remain saturated, river levels running very high, so we have dozens of flood warnings still in force up and down the country. hopefully, though, those numbers will go down as we head into the new week, thanks to high pressure, which will build, and that will bring lots of dry weather,

very much needed dry weather, to our shores, but it will turn colder, with overnight frost and fog making a return. high pressure already toppling into the north of the uk to start the new week, so, monday, cold, frosty, but bright and sunny, with light winds across scotland and northern ireland, a bit of early mist and fog around, but as we move across england and wales, we've still got the influence of the remnants of what was storm darragh, so still quite breezy. a fresh east—northeasterly breeze could feed in a few showers, south east england, down towards the channel islands. we could see a bit of sunshine breaking through here and there, but it will stay breezy, much lighter winds across the north, where we've started off very cold and frosty. temperatures struggling to get much above three or four degrees in a few spots in scotland. otherwise, it's seven to nine celsius for england and wales, but factor in the northeasterly breeze, it will feel quite raw. as we head through monday night, we'll see that cloud continuing across england and wales, streaming in off the north sea, with maybe a few showers running through the channel. that will stop temperatures from falling much below two to seven celsius for england and wales, but it's a very cold night to come for scotland

and northern ireland, with quite a hard frost, down to —5, —6 celsius, and some freezing fog. into tuesday, that area of high pressure begins to exert its force across the country. it's a cold, frosty start in the north, plenty of sunshine, early mist and freezing fog. more cloud again for england and wales, the breeze beginning to ease, but still a feature through the channel. maybe the odd shower, but mostly dry at this point, but it could be quite grey and gloomy in the south throughout the day on tuesday. another chilly day to come here, but cold in the north, struggling to get much above freezing across parts of scotland. 0ur area of high pressure dominates the scene through the week, just a few weather fronts spinning around it could affect the northern isles at times, and by the time we reach friday, into next weekend, it looks like low pressure will start to push into northern and western areas off the atlantic. but the run—up to them, much of the week will stay dry, cloudy in the south, sunnier in the north, and it will remain cold for all of us. take care.

breaking down barriers to trade: rachel reeves is to call for closer eu—uk relations as she heads to brussels for talks. preparing for trump's tariffs — us importers are rushing to protect their businesses from the threat of extra taxes. we hearfrom a handbag designer in philadelphia. also on the program — a tough road ahead for vw — workers at europe's

largest car—maker gear up for a second round of strikes as talks resume over cuts.