at around seven to ten. as we go through the evening and overnight, we are likely to see some showers continuing here, and quite a lot of cloud. under the clearing skies, continuing further north and west, temperatures falling away. a widespread frost with some fog is likely first thing in the morning as temperatures stay well below freezing. a different story further south. still that breeze with us, just pivoting to an easterly direction. that could produce a little bit of drizzle from time to time, maybe some showers along the kent coast as well. fog could be an issue further north and west and with temperatures below freezing, some of it is freezing fog as well. it will gradually lift into the afternoon. that is where we will have the best of the brighter weather. temperatures may struggle in one or two spots to climb above freezing further south once again we are looking at six to 8 degrees, the high. as we move into thursday,

we will start to see weather fronts trying to push on from the four north and west but the high—pressure hangs on so once again, fog could be an issue further north and west but we keep quite a bit of cloud.

this is bbc news,

the headlines... planning for syria's new future. rebel fighters say they're working to form a transitional government, a day after they toppled bashar al—assad. the hunt for syria's hidden prisoners. rescuers search for secret underground cells — scenes of torture and execution under the assad regime. thousands of syrians queue to return to their country from neighbouring lebanon and jordan where many had been exiled. the musical emilia perez tops the golden globes nominations for the 2025 awards. now with all the latest sport, here's tanya arnold. the final game of the

english premier league weekend takes place later, as west ham face wolves. bothjulen lopetegui and gary o'neil are under pressure over their teams form this season, and defeat for either manager could see them lose theirjob. but despite the uncertainty over his future, matters on the field are the focus for o'neil. i am not concerned about my future at all, only the club's future. i knew the size of the task when i took over. it is not often that managers walk out on premier league clubs, and that was what happened here, and since then it has got even more difficult, with the players that we have lost and the situation that we face, and all i'm trying to do is make sure that the group are available world number one scotty schelffler has won a record equalling 9th title of the season after a dominant victory at the hero world challenge. he hit a sensational nine under par 63, in the final round

to win by six shots. it means he's won an impressive 43 percent of the events he's entered in 2024 including the masters and olympic gold in paris. it has been a fantastic year. i am very grateful for the season and for the wins, it has been a tough one but at the end of the day we go home, i am looking forward to doing stuff that isn't golf. i like to go home and live my life and enjoy my time at home and have a little bit of time to reflect but i am not sure how to assess it. it has been pretty surreal. it has been a lot of fun and i am really grateful. south africa top the test cricket world rankings after a comprehensive 109 run win over sri lanka. sri lanka's lower order collapsed on final day of the second test — keshav maharaj ending with figures of 5—76. so south africa sealed a two nil whitewash in the series and move ahead of australia in the world standings. baseball starjuan soto is set to sign what is reportedly the biggest contract in the history of sport, in a deal worth up to 800 million dollars

with the new york mets. the contract is expected to last more than 15 years, and will surpass the previous record held by shohay ohtani. multiple sources in the united states have disclosed details of the deal, although the mets have yet to confirm it, as he has to undergo a medical. pressure to undergo a medical. on that medical is quite pressure on that medical is quite something! and that's all the sport for now. let's speak to james jeffrey. he was special representative for syria engagement and the special envoy to the global coalition to defeat isis under previous trump administration. he's currently chair of the middle east program at the wilson centre. thank you forjoining us on bbc news. much to talk about. i think everyone is very keen to understand more hts, mohammed al—jolani. in your time in

syria you've had dealings with him via an intermediary because he was on a terrorism watch list. what did you make of him? first of all, thank you for having me on. this is a great day for the syrian people, for the region and security, regardless of almost anything that happens inside syria, which may be problematic but it is a much better than what we had before. jolani was the leader of a powerful but limited force, in the north—west of the country, indirectly supported by turkey, and tolerated by the us, although he was on the terrorist list along with his organisation, because of previous involvement with terrorists entities such as al-qaeda. they have broken that link some eight or nine years ago. we have seen no international terror acts by them and that is really encouraging. we were able to,

indirectly, provide humanitarian assistance and other aid to that region by signing waivers and such, and directly and indirectly working with local authorities reporting tojolani so how he will do governing the country, thatis will do governing the country, that is still to be seen but what we are seeing, the turks are saying, we need an inclusive new government that brings in all of the various parties, christians, druze, kurds, and of course the alawite and sumy muslim populations and we don't know ifjolani will be able to do that. is ifjolani will be able to do that. , , ., ., ifjolani will be able to do that. , ., , ., that. is he someone, “ust to develop that i that. is he someone, just to develop that thought, - that. is he someone, just to develop that thought, that l that. is he someone, just to i develop that thought, that you have a hunch that the rest of the region and the world can work with, and you work for presidentjumped in the

president jumped in the previous presidentjumped in the previous administration, what will his approach be this time round? —— president drop. —— trump. he said the same thing all the time, he will be transactional.- all the time, he will be transactional. ~ . ., , all the time, he will be transactional. ., ., , , transactional. what he means is that he does _ transactional. what he means is that he does not _ transactional. what he means is that he does not want _ transactional. what he means is that he does not want a - transactional. what he means is that he does not want a lot - transactional. what he means is that he does not want a lot of i that he does not want a lot of troops on the ground. he does not want to be on the hook for nation—building. however, we do want to see syria secured, because we have interest with our nato ally to the north, turkey, israel to the south, and iraq to the east, so regardless of whether to is the bite zero trump administration we will be working with countries who have troops on the ground, israel and turkey, to try to press whoever is in charge in syria, the various factions, to come together, to reconcile, a lot of the un process that is still on the

books, resolution 2254, to take place, to bring folks again together and form a constitution because... you brou . ht constitution because... you brought in _ constitution because... you brought in the _ constitution because... you brought in the subject - constitution because... you brought in the subject of nato. we know that the president elect trump jai said we know that the president elect trumpjai said many things which suggest he is quite ambivalent to nato, but do you think it will be in the us interests for him to keep the us troops currently in syria in place, to fend off any threat of a resurgence of so—called islamic state? i don't know whether he will keep troops on or not but whatever the new administration wants to do, it must first take a look at what others troops doing there, they are working with there, they are working with the syrian forces that have been effective in fighting islamic state. islamic state still exists. wejust

islamic state. islamic state still exists. we just launched 75 missiles on their positions in the desert south of the euphrates river yesterday. we have to consider that mission and we have to play a role in shaping the political development along with our partners and allies. syria cannot be rebuilt without hundreds of billions of dollars of assistance and aid from humanitarians for reconstruction. that is not going to flow, if there is chaos, if the rise terrorist elements running around the country. elements running around the count . ., ., ., , , country. you have also been yes ambassador— country. you have also been yes ambassador to _ country. you have also been yes ambassador to iraq _ country. you have also been yes ambassador to iraq and - country. you have also been yes ambassador to iraq and turkey, | ambassador to iraq and turkey, looking a bit more at the region, what does this mean for the balance of power? i5 region, what does this mean for the balance of power? is a dramatic _ the balance of power? is a dramatic. on _ the balance of power? is a dramatic. on a _ the balance of power? is a dramatic. on a par- the balance of power? is a dramatic. on a par with i the balance of power? i3 —. dramatic. on a par with the 7th of october. iran had established a regional empire with state capital of lebanon, syria to some degree, iraq to

some degree, yemen and west gaza and that all has collapsed beginning with the israeli counteroffensive in gaza and then into lebanon, and now what we have, in syria. this is the most dramatic development in the middle east since probably the middle east since probably the yom kippur war in 1973. james jeffrey, thank you. let's speak to nicholas heras — he's senior director for strategy and programs at the new lines institute. picking up what i was discussing with james jeffrey, for the balance of power in the region, we heard from iraq yesterday, saying that countries outside the region should stay out of this, it needs to be sorted out internally. but obviously so many countries in the west and elsewhere looking on with huge interest at what is evolving in

syria. interest at what is evolving in s ria. , ., ., syria. yes indeed. the regional d namics syria. yes indeed. the regional dynamics are — syria. yes indeed. the regional dynamics are extremely - dynamics are extremely important and the fact of the matter is, many different actors in the region were caught off—guard, that the former opposition forces in syria themselves were caught off at how weak the syrian army, the former assad regime forces were. and what we should look for now, there will be an intense period of euphoria. you see that across many different communities. even if they were sceptical or fought against the armed opposition, they did not like bashar al—assad or the entire assad regime so there is a moment of euphoria now pack their hard work begins now. syria is still a country divided along regional and communal lines, and those factors are still present, there was hundreds of billions of reconstruction needing to be donein of reconstruction needing to be done in syria, millions of people, syrians, who will

likely return, and there is a white process of economic rehabilitation, —— disarmament, demobilisation of fighters across the country that will happen and regional actors will have a role to play, so will the international community. the united states has a major presence in syria. the us backed syrian democratic forces controls roughly 30% of the country in northern and eastern syria and turkey has a significant zone of control in northern and western syria and then thejordanians and the gulf states will have a role to play, as we'll iraq.— play, as we'll iraq. you have set that _ play, as we'll iraq. you have set that out _ play, as we'll iraq. you have set that out very _ play, as we'll iraq. you have set that out very clearly - play, as we'll iraq. you have set that out very clearly forl set that out very clearly for us. aljolani has the attention and momentum at the moment. do you think you will have the ability to exert control over the many groups and factions within syria, if, as he says, he wants to create order and a

syria for all, and if he is able to do that, what science should be looked for in terms of the transition to suggest that it of the transition to suggest thatitis of the transition to suggest that it is an orderly one —— what trump —— signs. hts was to all intents and purposes northern and western syria, it had some sales in other parts of the country but it is fundamentally the product of the dynamics in northern and western syria, the enclave that it enrolled in idlib, the province near torquay, was heavily divided along the lines in that region, with multiple different armed opposition factors throughout syria, in the south—west, the southern front, those organisations backed byjordan, the syrian democratic forces backed by the united states, there is a heavy

french component as well as other communities and there are former regime elements and this is something we should all be watching closely. the collapse of the assad regime happen suddenly. there was some fighting, but, by and large, former regime sojust fighting, but, by and large, former regime so just put their weapons and uniforms away and melted into the population and there is a significant part of syria in central and western region where you have a number of minority communities, including the alawite communities that is from the assad family came from that what with the regime, they did not like the regime per se, but they would like to see a pluralistic syria, that is not governed by severe islamic law, and canada that accommodate regional differences throughout syria so i have my personal doubts as an analyst whether or not hts can form the nucleus of an inclusive government system

for syria and its diverse regions and communities. i’m regions and communities. i'm auoin to regions and communities. i'm going to ask— regions and communities. i'm going to ask you to be quite brief with this final answer, in terms of who would pay for rebuilding syria, where would that money come from? we are a little way off from discussing that level of detail but i would love your thoughts just looking slightly ahead. that would have _ looking slightly ahead. that would have to _ looking slightly ahead. that would have to come - looking slightly ahead. twat would have to come through the gulf arab states, from wealthy syrian expatriates, to reinvest in their country, syrian expatri