very much the sense that they are still in the dark grip of the past and that the horrors of the past have to be dealt with if they want to move forward. there is a curfew from five in the evening until five in the morning, but before that in the centre of the city it was still very much a second day of celebrations. vladimir putin had invested heavily— vladimir putin had invested heavily in_ vladimir putin had invested heavily in assad, _ vladimir putin had invested i heavily in assad, determined vladimir putin had invested - heavily in assad, determined to keep— heavily in assad, determined to keep him — heavily in assad, determined to keep him in_ heavily in assad, determined to keep him in power, _ heavily in assad, determined to keep him in power, but- heavily in assad, determined to keep him in power, but in- heavily in assad, determined to keep him in power, but in the l keep him in power, but in the end_ keep him in power, but in the end it— keep him in power, but in the end it wasn't _ keep him in power, but in the end it wasn't enough. - but what to do about hts when they are a prescribed terrorist organisation? in syria, assad is gone, decades of dictatorship are over. we look at what syria's

opposition rebels will do now. also on the programme... rachel reeves says it is time for a reset with relations between eu the uk. and google shows off its quantam computer chip which takes five minutes to solve a problem today's fastest computer would take 10 septillion years to crack. we'll — hopefully — explain all. thanks forjoining us. we begin in syria — where the latest reports say the prime minister has agreed to hand over power to the syrian rebels, who are working towards forming a transitional government. reports say a figure from hts, the main islamist faction, will be appointed as the interim prime minister. the developments come a day after they captured the capital damascus and ousted president bashar al—assad. president assad's prime minister, mohammed ghazi al—jalali, says he's assisting with the transfer of power. the rebels say their forces

have established order over almost all of damascus, with fighters occupying public buildings. syrians have been pouring back into the country in their thousands from neighbouring lebanon and jordan where many had been exiled. some are making short trips to check the situation in their villages, but lebanon has made it harderfor syrian nationals to re—enter. we start our programme with this report from our correspondent in damascus. this is how bashar al—assad left the syrians, thousands of them here in saydnaya prison, one of the worst in the middle east, notjust in syria, are looking for their beloved ones. they don't know if they are still alive or killed in torture or hunger. translation: my son, -

son in law and my sisters have been detained for ten years and we do not know anything. they believe that there is a secret entrance through the kitchen to some place with a hidden door, but they don't know where it is. they don't have any idea how to get in there. translation: we urge the prison guards that we're here, _ come back and tell us how we can get the detainees out. this is the white helmet organisation who brought here... horn sounds ..from aleppo and idlib provinces to help to find any hidden

cells under this building. translation: we cannot confirm the presence of more detainees. i we are doing what we can, through the help of search dogs, available tools and previous detainees. our correspondent, yogita limaye, arrived in damascus this morning and told us more about the situation there. this is a city that feels very chaotic as of now, and politically there is a vacuum and we note the leader mohammed ghazi al—jalali has met with the interim prime minister, but there are no clear details about what the way for what exactly will be. in the day, we went to a government building to see what was happening.

but so far, there are no clear details about what the way forward exactly will be in the day. we went to some government buildings, some police stations in the city to see what exactly was happening there. and outside we found members of hts fighters. they said they'd been deployed there this morning, that they'd come in from idlib region in syria, that for long has been controlled by hts. to secure the city and to ensure that there isn't any looting or vandalism, some of which we saw on sunday. but before the curfew, there's a curfew from five in the evening till five in the morning. but before the curfew in the central square of the city, it was still very much a second day of celebrations. hundreds, possibly thousands of civilians coming in, cars, just families all packed in, honking their horns, singing, cheering, clapping and just continuously there was a barrage of celebratory gunfire, literally to the extent where all of the roads around that square were littered with spent bullets. joining us to tell us more is benham ben taleblu, senior fellow at foundation for defence of democracies. thanks forjoining us. we are going to get into some of the details in a moment, but can i get your headline thoughts on

where the country stands right now? . ., , , ., now? the country is free of the assad regime. _ now? the country is free of the assad regime, a _ now? the country is free of the assad regime, a murderous - assad regime, a murderous regime which has ruled from damascus for over half a century now. most u nfortu nately, century now. most unfortunately, even as was seen in some of the videos that you showed, this is yet another phase, transitional phase of the syrian civil war which has engulfed that country now for more than a decade. h0??? engulfed that country now for more than a decade.- engulfed that country now for more than a decade. how did we aet more than a decade. how did we get here? _ more than a decade. how did we get here? i _ more than a decade. how did we get here? i want _ more than a decade. how did we get here? i want to _ more than a decade. how did we get here? i want to look - more than a decade. how did we get here? i want to look at - get here? i want to look at what happens now and next but just before we do, i want to look at some of the roles of the countries nearby in what has happened. can we start with turkey? and what exactly has happened? in turkey? and what exactly has happened?— turkey? and what exactly has ha--ened? 4', , happened? in turkey president erdoaan, happened? in turkey president erdogan. it _ happened? in turkey president erdogan. it is _ happened? in turkey president erdogan, it is a _ happened? in turkey president erdogan, it is a major - happened? in turkey president erdogan, it is a major nato - erdogan, it is a major nato country but also one that has

provided help to sunni islamist fighters, and turkey backs the syrian national army which is fighting with the majority, but not exclusively kurdish sdf which is backed by the us. turkey wanted to get rid of the assad regime but that morphed into trying to prevent kurdish threats from growing including a kurdish autonomous zone on the southern border with turkey so turkey plays a significant political and military role. four years ago turkey helped to broker the stalemate in the north west, and it was the diplomacy from turkey with the assad regime that failed in that likely ended up being one of the things that paved the way for the rise in operations by hts and other groups against damascus. 50 by hts and other groups against damascus. �* , by hts and other groups against damascus-— by hts and other groups against damascus. �* , ., damascus. so let's look at some ofthe damascus. so let's look at some of the other— damascus. so let's look at some of the other countries, _ damascus. so let's look at some of the other countries, so - of the other countries, so iran, what about their role?

iran, what about their role? iran and the assad regime go back many years, and the islamic republic of iran has had only one state partner in its 45 year existence and that has been the assad family, in damascus and syria, and asad's father stood with iran against most indie rock wall. —— against most in the iraq war. this is worth remembering exterior appoints a key role in iran's axis of resistance, this is what the regime has against israel, arab states and us positions, and iranian officials have often referred to syria in this way, and they

have allowed it to be an eastern mediterranean power and are its cheap proxy, but that has now been cut with this fall in damascus —— arm its chief proxy. in damascus -- arm its chief rox . ., �* , , proxy. now let's bring it right u . proxy. now let's bring it right u- to proxy. now let's bring it right up to date — proxy. now let's bring it right up to date to _ proxy. now let's bring it right up to date to right _ proxy. now let's bring it right up to date to right now, - proxy. now let's bring it right up to date to right now, so i up to date to right now, so what have you heard about the political situation that gives you any nudge about how you think this could play out politically? it think this could play out politically?— politically? it is always interesting _ politically? it is always interesting when - politically? it is always interesting when the i politically? it is always i interesting when the guns politically? it is always - interesting when the guns stop firing and the people start speaking, and conflicts will emerge between hts and other groups and other syrians who are returning and who wanted a secular democratic government and touched off this government about a decade ago, but how with their voices be heard, and will there be space for them? room for cautious optimism, because language on the

transitional council talked about territorial integrity and many of the neighbouring countries like turkey and iran were worried about a fracturing of syria but in the short term we are looking at how we can get these multiple voices to actually live up to that which they have said and written on paper before. the they have said and written on paper before-— paper before. the reality on the ground. _ paper before. the reality on the ground, whichever - paper before. the reality on | the ground, whichever group paper before. the reality on - the ground, whichever group has the ground, whichever group has the most weapons and the most resources and the most power, as of now and in the days ahead, they will actually get to shape more of the future? that is the case with most revolutions, yes, and also the case of which backers will benefit from some degree of foreign intervention, and sdf is sanctioned by the us and there is a warrant on the head of that group —— hts. but at the same time the us has not targeted the head of the group, so if you look at how they have

targeted other people, so who knows what the kaleidoscope of syrian domestic armed groups will look like when talking about foreign intervention and foreign support in the short term? ., ., foreign support in the short term? . ., ., , term? thanks for “oining us. now we can _ term? thanks for “oining us. now we can get _ term? thanks forjoining us. now we can get political - now we can get political reaction in the uk. what has the government said? slightly different things, _ the government said? slightly different things, actually. - the government said? slightly different things, actually. the| different things, actually. the main message coming from the foreign secretary and the prime minister himself who is in the middle east, in saudi arabia, quite simply, there will be no imminent move to take out hts, who are the leading force in syria, to take them off the list of terrorist groups. it is an essential step to do this if the government wants to engage directly with hts over the future of syria, but downing

street are saying that the main focus is trying to keep civilians safe and trying to get guarantees that the rights of minorities will be protected, and in addition to that putting aid into syria where it is needed, £11 million of aid to existing agencies, non—governmental agencies and the un itself, but a bit of confusion because another cabinet minister suggested there might be a relatively swift decision on whether to effectively say we do not regard hts as a potentially terrorist organisation, in order to in effect kick—start the political process which keir starmer would like to see. that said, what the message is this evening from the government, they mustjudge hts by their actions, and so they want to see what they do in practice rather than simply

accept at face value that the people of syria will be protected and the rights of minority so that is what they are doing tonight. another development tonight, some countries, because the assad regime has fallen, deciding that they are no longer accepting refugees from syria, and here the home office in charge of immigration has decided to pause any asylum applications from syria at the moment, notjust because of the fall of the regime but whether anybody associated with the regime will try to get into this country, and downing street have already sanctioned more than 300 people associated with the assad regime, and under no circumstances would they be allowed into the uk in any case, but that underlines how quickly the situation is changing and to some extent the politicians are rushing to keep

up. politicians are rushing to keep u n . ., ., politicians are rushing to keep up. to go back to the first oint up. to go back to the first point you _ up. to go back to the first point you mentioned, - up. to go back to the first point you mentioned, this change in definition, a prescribed group and one that is not prescribed, so it sounds slightly academic, and linguistic but why does this matter? it linguistic but why does this matter? . , ., ., ., matter? it matters a great deal because what — matter? it matters a great deal because what keir— matter? it matters a great deal because what keir starmer - matter? it matters a great deal because what keir starmer said all along as soon as this swift advanced took place by hts and other groups, and assad fled to russia, is that he wants to see a political process and a political solution to determining the future how syria's government during the level of engagement to look at whether the promises by the rebel groups to respect the different religions and ethnic backgrounds of people in syria would happen in practice, but in order to do that, for the uk to engage, they cannot engage

directly with an organisation that it regards as a terrorist organisation, that is a proscribed organisation. in order to do so, if hts is the leading force in syria it would have to reach a decision to take them off a list of proscribed organisations to have that kind of engagement and they seem to be doing this at one step removed with the regional allies in the region who may get in contact with hts but if the british government wants to get involved, this is a change they would have to make, which is why there is a suggestion this might happen swiftly. but there is now a feeling that our government would want to work in lockstep with their allies are not to run too far ahead of themselves.- run too far ahead of themselves. ., ., ., , themselves. you are heroically struggling _ themselves. you are heroically struggling there _ themselves. you are heroica