this is bbc news. a transfer of power in syria, rebels work towards a transitional government days after they toppled bashar al—assad. a man is arrested at al—assad. a man is arrested at a pennsylvania mcdonald's in connection with the killing of a healthcare ceo in new york. concern in seoul over who is in control of the country as the president is barred from travel. hello and welcome to newsday. i'm steve lai. we start in the middle east where seismic events in syria have been causing shockwaves in the country and abroad. work is under way in damascus to build a transitional government, currently no—one is officially

in charge of the country but power appears to be consolidating into the powers —— into the hands of one amanda, the islamist rebel leader widely seen as the mastermind of assad's downfall. he met with the prime minister, who has now been replaced but he says he will still help with a smooth transition of power. while the victors turn their attention to politics, the syrian people are trying to reclaim their lives. huge crowds gathered today at the notorious saydnaya prison near damascus, with people desperately hoping to find evidence of loved ones who went missing under president assad's rule. our correspondence sent this report from inside the prison. the saydnaya the sayd naya prison, the saydnaya prison, a symbol of some of the darkest abuses of bashar al—assad's rule. thousands of opposition supporters were tortured and killed here. now there's a rush for a chance of finding those still missing. for the first time,

the doors have been opened wide to a country traumatised by decades of repression. everyone has a desperate story to tell of loved ones jailed for years. munther tariq is looking for his brother—in—law. we came to here, like everyone, to find maybe a light at the end of the door, maybe. "call me the wounded mother," she says, because of the children she's lost. "may god take revenge on bashar al—assad." just days ago, rebels freed thousands of prisoners here on their march to damascus, amazed at this sudden recovery of their lives. the empty cells a striking image of how much has changed, but many believe this isn't

the end — people still trapped, they think, in an underground prison. the syrian civil defence group the white helmets has joined the search. translation: we believe there's a network of cells. with prisoners beneath the jail, but we haven't yet been able to find the entrance. we do not have any details on how many people are underground. family members have reached the prison building, pushing at the gates to get in. we squeezed through on a surge of excitement. for a moment, they thought they'd made a discovery. they're searching the bowels of the prison, looking for tunnels that lead to hidden cells. we went down to see for ourselves the frantic efforts to break through to anyone who might still be alive. this is where they think they may have found an entrance to an underground prison. they've been looking for more than a day, but they haven't found anything so far. nobody knows exactly what they might find or who might be

underneath the ground, but many, many people are hoping that some of their loved ones will be found. sifting through a litter of documents for any evidence of their loved ones or clues to an underground prison — no sign of it yet, but the hunt will continue. after the past two weeks, syria has entered a new era, but people are still caught in the dark grip of the old one. translation: our priority is our sons, who are - the future of this country. do you believe that we, the elderly, can do much now? we want our sons back and we want our country back, too. how can this country move forward without dealing with the horrors of its past? the rebels say their forces

have established order across almost all of damascus and they have granted an amnesty to military personnel who were conscripted into service by the asada regime. our correspondence has been assessing the mood in the syrian capital. (music plays) a jubilant people —— ajubilant people poured into the capital's central square for a second day. a street party—like atmosphere. this might seem like a dangerous way to celebrate. but not in a country that has endured years of bombs and bullets, finally rid of a brutal dictator. anyone who wants to celebrate is coming here, to the central square in damascus. every couple of minutes, we are hearing celebratory gunfire. the ground here literally is strewn with bullets that have been fired. and it's notjust members

of the rebel group hts, it's lots of civilians. i've seen women and children bringing their families along. stories of horror, too easily found amidst this joy. mohammed is a5, but looks older because he has no teeth. he says bashar al—assad's soldiers broke them because he belonged to a rebel militia. they also cut off part of his tongue and gave him mice to eat in prison. "we are the people of damascus," he says, "though they accused us of being terrorists. thank god, i can't believe what's happened." hayat tahrir al—sham's fighters, heroes for those here for liberating them. but can a group that has a jihadist past deliver the democratic rule that hani told us he wants? i think, based on the last 13 years, hayat tahriral—sham has changed a lot.

they started maybe as part of al-anda, but now they are syrians, purely they are syrians. i think in the coming days, we will see good things from these guys. noor is a nurse. she believes hts won't impose hardline rule, especially on women. "they are from our country, they are not islamic state. "we're not afraid of them. "i don't think they will force us to cover ourselves from head to toe." today, the man at the centre of it all, dressed in his usual military attire, hts leader mohammed abu al—jolani, met the interim prime minister to discuss the way forward. so far, there is little clarity on what that could be. damascus is still largely shut down, and there is a curfew from dusk till dawn. at a police station, we met hts men brought in to protect it. we asked what would happen to the men who fought for assad. translation: our revolution

is not for revenge. _ any policeman who does not have blood on their hands, we will work with them. the looting and vandalising that was seen on the first day, that appears to have stopped today. what we've seen at government buildings, public places, markets, is that rebels from hayat tahrir al—sham have been moved from idlib, the region which they control, en masse to damascus, to secure these places. but as of now there isn't a proper, functioning government in place. that vacuum can breed instability. who will run this country? an answer is needed quickly. yogita limaye, bbc news, damascus. as the new groups in control of syria attempt to find their feet, globaland syria attempt to find their feet, global and regional powers are trying to make sense of what has happened and what could come next. germany and france have said they are ready

to work with the new regime but the group is still considered a terrorist organisation by the eu and uk as well as the united states. it is not clear if that will change. israeli warplanes have reportedly carried out dozens of strikes around damascus, a military air base and a research centre suspected of links to chemical weapons production were among the sites hit. israel says it is acting to stop weapons falling into the hands of extremists. then there is russia, bashar al—assad deposed leader is reportedly in moscow but on monday the kremlin refused to say where he was, adding there were no plans for a meeting between him and president vladimir putin. for more on events in syria and joined by aaron, a seniorfellow events in syria and joined by aaron, a senior fellow at the washington institute, he also wrote the book on hds called the age of politicaljihad is. we appreciate your time. what is the key thing to understand about hds, the group now in control of syria? i

about hds, the group now in control of syria?— control of syria? i think the short way _ control of syria? i think the short way of _ control of syria? i think the short way of explaining - control of syria? i think the short way of explaining it . control of syria? i think the short way of explaining it is they essentially went from being a part of the global gerhardie movement from 2011 to 2016 to a local regime from 2016, 2017 until now so they have an 8.5 year track record, nearly double the time they've been part of the global gerhardie movement. in the most recent iteration, and in that time they also destroyed all of the islamic state sales in the area they were controlling in idlib as well as al-qaeda �*s attempts to make a new branch there as well. it is a complicated issue because even though they are no longer a part of the global gerhardie movement, they still ruled idlib like an authoritarian regime since they are still conservative islamist �*s. we conservative islamist 's. we have seen — conservative islamist 's. we have seen some _ conservative islamist 's. we have seen some optimism on the streets of serious capital that hts has moved away from its jihadist past but as you've been describing it, is it too soon to assume that? i

been describing it, is it too soon to assume that?- been describing it, is it too soon to assume that? i do think so. in soon to assume that? i do think s0- in the _ soon to assume that? i do think so. in the past _ soon to assume that? i do think so. in the past we _ soon to assume that? i do think so. in the past we have - soon to assume that? i do think so. in the past we have seen . so. in the past we have seen abu mohammed al—jolani pivot at various points, whether it was from isis in 2013, al-qaeda in 2016, beginning to build institutions, reforming the military, reaching out to minorities a couple of years ago for the first time so it is possible that we could be seeing a new pivot and also the fact that now, not only they are in control of idlib, which is more a conservative area of the country versus aleppo, damascus, very cosmopolitan cities. not only they have greater percentages of minorities but they are also secular muslims beyond just religious muslims so it is definitely going to be one of the challenges for them to navigate this new scenario and how they scale up what they have already done in idlib to the entire country.—

have already done in idlib to the entire country. this pivot that ou the entire country. this pivot that you talk _ the entire country. this pivot that you talk about, - the entire country. this pivot that you talk about, moving l that you talk about, moving away from ias and al-qaeda, is this key to how he has managed to galvanise the various rebel factions to fight for one because here? definitely, that's part _ because here? definitely, that's part of _ because here? definitely, that's part of the - because here? definitely, that's part of the reason l because here? definitely, i that's part of the reason why he disavowed and broke from al-qaeda is they wanted to create a unified front against the regime and one of the things that was hindering him was the fact that many other rebel groups felt that them being a part of al-qaeda would hurt their ability to do this because then they would all be under pressure from a potential affiliation with al-qaeda and therefore that is part of the story of why they did it alongside some other internal issues and since then we have seen them build a bunch of institutions to govern over the last seven years in idlib as well as reform their own military infrastructure, which created more command and control over all factions being

altogether rather than a bunch of disparate groups, about 1000 different insurgent groups a decade ago and that in part helps explain why everything happened so quickly in the last two weeks now. do happened so quickly in the last two weeks now.— happened so quickly in the last two weeks now. do we know how he intends _ two weeks now. do we know how he intends to _ two weeks now. do we know how he intends to lead _ two weeks now. do we know how he intends to lead going - he intends to lead going forward now he has toppled the assad regime?— assad regime? based off of precedent. _ assad regime? based off of precedent, it _ assad regime? based off of precedent, it seems - assad regime? based off of precedent, it seems he - assad regime? based off of precedent, it seems he will| precedent, it seems he will continue to play this role from the outside of the official government because they do have an actual prime minister for what they described as their salvation government, the civilian arm of hts and that is mohammed basheer, who abu mohammed basheer, who abu mohammed al—jolani met with alongside the former assad regime prime minister earlier today and he will be leading a lot of the civilian and technocratic sides of it but he has this broader role beyond just an official role because

he's the leader of everything that he doesn't have an position within the government. we will be watching this space and we know you will as well. thank you very much, aaron. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's take a look at some other news in the uk stop energy companies say the vast majority of people who lost power during storm darragh have been reconnected but thousands are still cut off. in york, the river burst its banks and a number of railway lines are closed in wales in the southwest of england due to fallen trees and debris. premier league referee david coote has been sacked following allegations about his conduct. he was suspended after a video was circulated allegedly showing him making derogatory comments about liverpool and the club 's former manager. the governing body say coote 's actions were

in serious breach of his employment and his position was deemed untenable. the chancellor rachel reeves has urged european finance ministers to help her build what she has called a mature businesslike relationship between the uk and the eu. she is the first british chancellor to address euro group finance ministers since breaks it. it is understood the government is considering a far more extensive reset of considering afar more extensive reset of post— considering a far more extensive reset of post— bricks at relations. you are likely bbc news. after a massive man—hunt across multiple states in the north—eastern us, police have arrested a man in connection with the murder of united healthcare ceo brian thompson wednesday. 26—year—old luigi mangione was arrested in pennsylvania earlier today as a strong person of interest in the murder investigation. he has not been formally charged with the death of united healthcare ceo brian thompson in new york but he has been charged with carrying a firearm

without a license and providing false identification to police. he is currently being held without bail after a brief court appearance and officials are now calling him a suspect. at a press conference in the past hour, police thanked the public for their help. the pennsylvania governor also issued a pennsyl