hello, i'm carl nasman. welcome to the programme. thousands of syrians have taken to the streets across the country to celebrate the fall of the assad regime on what's being called victory day. images from damascus and other cities show people celebrating nearly a week after the ousted president fled to moscow amid a surprise opposition offensive. it was the first friday prayers since rebel groups took power with people urged to go out and express theirjoy. it comes as israel stations troops inside a un—patrolled buffer zone separating israeli and syrian forces in the occupied golan heights. the office of the israeli defence minister said troops could stay there throughout the winter. our international editor jeremy bowen reports from damascus. this ancient city has

seen countless upheavals overfive millennia. for modern syria, though, with its old flag restored, nothing matches the fall of the assads. the end of the first week without an assad in charge since 1970 brought thousands of syrians into the umayyad mosque to thank god for their deliverance. all chant. the chant is, "the people want the execution of "bashar". chanting continues. the regime's collapse and liberation from assad's brutal security state are powering a sense of great optimism. for all the people here, this puts the seal on it — this is absolute proof that they have won and the regime has gone. just flying one of these black, white and green flags a couple of weeks ago could've got you arrested, jail time, or even a bullet. the fighters of hay�*at

tahrir al—sham — hts — are still basking in their achievement. that white flag used by syrian islamist fighters was also behind the new prime minister in a broadcast. hts insists it's renounced its former extremist ideology. some syrians do not believe them. samir, overwhelmed, back from britain after 44 years, is hoping for a tolerant future. it is our country, this is not al—assad country. he is gone now. i don't know how we are going to resolve it. he has been corrupting this country for 50 years but these are the people who are going to build the country, so wish us the luck — everyone in the world. and please, please, leave us alone. leave us alone, 0k? we appreciate your support but we don't want anyone to interfere with our decisions, what we are going to do. this is their decision. syria's future is full of challenges. hts is an islamist group. what will that mean for girls and for women? how do syrians getjustice

for the regime's crimes? they meant it when they called for assad's execution before the prayer. their new rulers told them to celebrate the blessed revolution, so they did. syrians understand that it won't be easy to overcome 50 years of dictatorship and 14 years of war, but this was a day to seize and enjoy. thousands converged on umayyad square in the centre of damascus. it's as if an enormous weight has been lifted off a nation. i have never seen so many smiling people in syria. we are free! we are feeling... we are free! ..the feelings of freedom! we never feel like this. i want all the world to see us! we are free now. south, north — we are free! the fighters are the heroes

now, bringing their kids, posing for photos with other peoples. but when the party is over, people need to eat in an economy smashed by war and corruption. i asked this woman and her daughters what they need. just needed freedom to do. no taxes, no stolen money taken from us. just we want to be independent. we want to be an independent people. syria is an independent country. nobody controls us. nobody can rule us — just the syrians themselves. it's too soon for firm answers to syria's problems but the placards set an agenda — bring the assads to justice, civil rights for all, and syria is for every syrian, no matter who they are. jeremy bowen, bbc news, damascus. us secretary of state antony blinken is urging countries in the region to support a peaceful transition of power in syria. he's making his 12th visit to the middle east since october of last year. he met with the iraqi prime minister during an unannounced visit to iraq earlier on friday

in a coordinated effort to work with a key regional partner to fight extremism. as syria transitions from the assad dictatorship to — hopefully — a democracy, it does so in a way that, of course, protects all of the minorities in syria, that produces an inclusive, non—sectarian government and does not become in any way a platform for terrorism. i spoke with aaron david miller, seniorfellow at the carnegie endowment for international peace, about the scenes in syria. ..the syrians in these celebrations, almost pleading with the world to leave them alone, we heard one man saying don't interfere with our decisions but obviously, syria has long

been a country where we have seen these multiple players taking part there. how do you see this? will syria be able to chart its own course? you know, it's an extraordinary moment. i don't like to describe this as an inflection point, a game changer, a seachange or a watershed. i think if you look at the previous examples where arab authoritarians were overthrown, without exception the outcome was worse. mubarak was overthrown and abdel fattah al—sisi rules the country with an iron hand. gaddafi was overthrown and libya is divided. houthis controlled part of the country. saddam hussein was overthrown in iraq and iraq is still a dysfunctional country. then you have tunisia, where the sprouts of democracy took root and yet, when ben ali was overthrown, the country now is run by an autocrat. will syria be an exception? i think that is the question. i think there is some reason to believe clearly hts

is saying and doing all of the right things but it is a deeply islamic conservative authoritarian movement. and whether or not it will be able to control a country of 23 million people, control idlib province, it is a very conservative part of syria. you have a multi—confessional ethnically diverse country, damascus 2.5 million people. secular, in many respects. so that's one test. and the second is external intervention by powers large and small. the turks now seem to have most of the influence. they have their own agenda. the americans have stepped back and the remaining days of the biden administration, i think the administration is trying to get involved but it's making way for an administration led by a president—elect who seems to want to remain on the sidelines. crosstalk. ..the sidelines? i suspect that the decision that the president—elect is going to make.

he sent every single possible but he does not intend to get involved and i think it would be a mistake if he doesn't. we are hearing as well about the influence of iran obviously, in syria, a us official telling reuters today washington sees this as a moment right now really as an opportunity to further push back iran's influence in the region. do you think that that's possible as well — that what we are seeing in syria right now could be another big blow for iran? i think there is no question. the entire iranian enterprise, run by the iranian revolutionary guard, whether it is support for hamas in gaza, lebanon with hezbollah and now the fall of a very important iranian ally who, for decades, has counted on syria for many, many things — a buffer against the sunni arab world, a way to position

on the arab—israeli conflict, this is a huge blow for iran. the iranians are down, however, but not out. i think it will really depend on whether or not hts, the punitive movement that was responsible for assad's overthrow, can put together over time an inclusive, nonsectarian government which is somewhat less vulnerable to external manipulation and then, of course, the issue of the powers. the russians apparently, according to the commercially available overhead, appear to be withdrawing some of their assets from the navel—gazing tartous and the airfield, which i think also is a very good sign. so they cannot fix syria but we certainly can help. in gaza, the health ministry

says more than 80 people have been killed in israeli attacks in the past day as international efforts to secure a ceasefire continue. at least 30 people were killed in an israeli air raid on a post office that was functioning as a shelter for displaced palestinians. in northern gaza, a palestinian surgeon has been shot dead as he travelled from one hospital to another injabalia. israel does not allow journalists unrestricted access to gaza, sojon donnison reports now from jerusalem. already injured in a previous attack, this is dr saeed jouda speaking last month, reported to be the last orthopaedic surgeon in northern gaza. a grandfather who came out of retirement to help during the war. "save us," it says on the placard. it didn't work. translation: on his way to allow the hospital - to evaluate a patient, one of the tanks fired on doctor saeed directly. unfortunately, he was killed instantly. some witnesses say he was shot by a drone. the israeli military

says it's investigating. this is the kamal adwan hospital in northern gaza, where doctorjouda did much of his work. it has few supplies, few doctors, but endless patients. the area injabalia has been under siege and under bombardment by israeli forces for months in an effort, they say, to stop hamas from regrouping. israel does not allow foreign journalists unrestricted access to gaza. they're coming under continued bombardment in these hospitals. but from jerusalem, i got through to the main united nations aid agency there. it's devastating for his family. it's devastating for people in the north who are relying on so few doctors and such few resources available. hospitals in the gaza strip are not hospitals any more. they keep using this term "partially functioning". but if you and i were to step in these hospitals, you wouldn't recognise anything about it to resemble a hospital.

there is no sanitation. there are hardly any doctors. there's no medical equipment. patients are dying needlessly. much of northern gaza is an apocalyptic wasteland, but israel's offensive is not over. jon donnison, bbc news, jerusalem. ukraine's energy infrastructure endured a barrage of russian missiles and drones in the early hours of friday morning. 93 missiles and more than 200 drones targeted sites in ukraine's west but ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky said 81 missiles were shot down. air alerts in the capital kyiv sent residents into underground shelters as new power supply restrictions were announced as a result of the attack. rolling blackouts are being introduced in all regions of ukraine amid the restrictions. russia's attacks come on the coldest day of the ukrainian winter so far with temperatures hovering around negative 6 degrees celsius. our reporter abdujalil

abdurasulov is in kyiv with more. we know that the main target of this attack was ukraine's energy infrastructure. in fact, a thermal power plant in the western part of the country was badly damaged during the strike. and also, some of those missiles that russia launched were reportedly targeting the city of stryi in western part of ukraine, and that is the place where the country's largest gas storage facility is located, and that place is important for maintaining the country's heating systems on. russia says that this attack happened in response to ukraine's aerial strike on its air base in the city of taganrog, which happened two days ago, and at that time, ukraine used american—provided long range atacms missiles to target that place, that airbase. and, of course, this is not the first time when russia launched such massive air strikes and, in fact, according to the ukrainian

authorities, this is the 12th so—called massive air strike that happened this year and the last one just happened a few weeks ago. so, itjust shows you that russia carries out such strikes, regardless whether ukraine targets its air bases inside its territory or not. the kremlin on friday praised us president—elect donald trump's critical stance towards ukraine's use of us missiles to strike into russian territory. spokesman dmitry peskov told reporters that trump, quote, "understands exactly what is escalating "the situation". the president—elect had said he disagreed "very vehemently" with kyiv�*s launch of us long—range missiles in an interview with time magazine. trump also maintained his long—held position that he wanted to reach an agreement to end the war — a stance some fear means ukraine ceding territory to russia. i spoke to charles kupchan about that news. he's a seniorfellow

at the council on foreign relations and a former us national security council official. i assuming you've probably read that interview in time magazine with donald trump, where he says he essentially vehemently disagrees with letting ukraine use long—range american missiles against russia. what do you make of those comments by donald trump? well, you know, ithink what trump is responding to here is the tit—for—tat escalation that we've seen over the course of the last couple of years. and in general, every time the united states has upped the ante by giving ukraine a new weapon systems or peru —— or improving longer—range strikes, the russians have retaliated. and the united states and its allies are in a somewhat awkward position here in the sense that in the end of the day, russia cares more about ukraine than the west does. and that's why every time we escalate, they escalate and then go one step further and so, there is a logic to trump's position that is, "hey, let's not continue

"the spiral of escalation if it's just gonna keep "raising the stakes". he also said in the interview, though, interestingly, "i'm not going to abandon ukraine" and i think what he's saying there is, "no, i am not going to turn off "the flow of military and economic assistance" because i think trump understands that if he does that, putin has every reason to just keep going. it's interesting because on the one hand, he's saying we shouldn't be sending as many weapons to ukraine, they shouldn't be using american long—range weapons against russia but at the same time, like you said, saying he wouldn't abandon ukraine. so how should we parse that? what would that mean in the next couple of months, will we see more aid

shipments or will this be it, oncejoe biden leaves office? i think the flow of arms is escalating right now. biden is trying to get everything he can to ukraine before trump takes office. the logic here is to put ukraine in as good as a position as possible at the negotiating table because everybody knows trump is going to give diplomacy a chance. the russians are doing everything opposite — they are trying to put ukraine in as weak a position as possible at the negotiating table by hitting their energy infrastructure in the middle of winter, which is going to make it very hard for many ukrainians to stay warm. so, in some ways, both sides are positioning themselves for this negotiation that's about to begin. i do think it's important that trump said, "i'm not "going to walk away from ukraine" because i think if we are going to stop putin, it's not going to be by saying "hey, let's make a deal". it's by saying, "you cannot get any further. "we have built a line of defence, it's impenetrable." that message to putin may convince him that it is time

to stop and to move from the battlefield to the negotiating table. in terms of the third party in the room here, how do you see president zelensky sees this? reading that interview there in time magazine, but we have heard from him repeatedly, saying he wants to work directly with donald trump. we saw footage of him earlier of him actually walking with donald trump during a meeting in the last month. will he work with donald trump? will he follow any us demands or do you think we might see the ukrainian president turn even closer to europe? no, i think zelensky doesn't have an option, and that's because the united states is the main backer. the europeans are helping out a great deal but it's the us that's been in the lead, particularly when it comes to armaments. and so, zelensky doesn't have an option to sit down and negotiate with putin, negotiate with trump, talk to the europeans. i don't think the most difficult part of this

is going to be a ceasefire and territory because we know that one of contact will be drawn where the forces are during the time a ceasefire is reached. where i think it's going to be difficult is what else does putin ask for? does he ask for ukrainian neutrality? do he ask for recognition of eastern ukraine as part russia? does he ask for the sanctions to come down? those are places we are going to see some hard negotiation where i think the europeans are going to say no, zelensky is going to say no and then trump is going to have to make some tough decisions about how far he goes in trying to meet the demands that putin puts on the table. very, very briefly if you don't mind — about 20 seconds left — but what kind of impact do you think the unfolding events on syria may have on the conflict there in ukraine? will russia move assets, shift focus now towards ukraine? that's shifted the focus — that's one of the reasons that the russians have

basically let asaad fall. they don't have the wherewithal to focus on any other part of the world because they are drained in ukraine. i do think that overall, this weakens russia's hands and it may make them somewhat more compliant, the kremlin, when they do sit down at the negotiating table with zelensky. prince andrew says he's "ceased all contact" with a chinese businessman banned from the uk after accused of being a spy. in a statement the prince said "he'd met the individual "through official channels, with nothing of a sensitive "nature ever discussed, and he's now acted "on the advice of the government after concerns "were raised." china has condemned the decision to ban the businessman, who's been described as a close confidant of the duke. dominic casciani has the details. a prince under pressure again — this time over his relationship with a mystery businessman we're not allowed to name, now revealed by the courts to be a likely spy targeting the royal family. for ten years, prince andrew promoted the uk's relationship with china. this was his pitch at the palace investment scheme on tour in china. from entrepreneurs to state visits — here with china's president xijinping — the duke forged closer ties

amid a delicate and difficult diplomatic relationship. that relationship is now under new strain. a judgment from the semi—secret special immigration appeals commission has revealed that a man working for the chinese communist party's intelligence operations has been banned from the uk. he'd targeted the duke in an operation to influence him. in 2020, h6 became a close confidant with an unusual degree of trust, working with this man, the duke's adviser, dominic hampshire. he gave h6 the green light to act for the duke in talks with chinese investors. when the security services became suspicious and searched h6's phone, they found evidence he was a state agent — a conclusion that doesn't surprise experts. typically, they would go for members of the house of lords or prominent businesspeople or people who, you know, have a voice in the community. it's quite ambitious to target a member of the royal family and quite unwise for a member of the royal family to allow

himself to be targeted. the court found that: there was a letter from dominic hampshire on the phone. he told h6 that: h6 also had a note of how to handle the duke himself. it said: counter—espionage investigators feared the duke had been a target of elite capture — that's the chinese communist party's operation to seek influence across british life — and so, the home secretary used her exceptional powers, reserved for the most serious national security cases, to ban the businessman

from the uk. mis�*s chief has repeatedly warned of the scale of china's information— and intelligence—gathering in the uk. we see the chinese authorities playing the long game and cultivating contacts to manipulate opinion in china's favour, seeking to co—opt and influence not just prominent parliamentarians from across the political landscape, but people much earlier in their careers in public life, gradually building a debt of obligation. there's no suggestion mr hampshire was aware of h6�*s objective and the chinese embassy has called the allegations a "baseless smear". as for prince andrew, he withdrew from public life after his newsnight interview over his relationship with the now dead sex offenderjeffrey epstein. that relationship raised questions ofjudgment and now, another relationship has led to more. live now to south korea.

huge crowds are gathering outside the south korean parliament ahead of the second impeachment vote of the president over his botched declaration of martial law. they're urging mps to remove yoon suk—yeol from office. a first attempt failed because of a governing party boycott, but some members have since said they will back this motion. he appears to be losing the support of mps from his own party. eight mps from his own party need to vote for that to pass. the crown of thorns — a relic said to have been placed on the head of jesus christ at his crucifixion — has returned to notre—dame cathedral in paris. the woven circle of rushes

encased in a golden tube was saved from the devastating fire that gutted the church five years ago. now, a week after notre dame's grand reopening, it was placed in a newly designed reliquary amid organ and choral music and shouts of celebration. the relic was first mentioned byjerusalem pilgrims in the fifth century and laterfound its way to constantinople, where the then french king acquired it in the year 1239. stay with us here on bbc news. we hand over to our colleagues in london so plenty more news coming up on the hour coming up right here on bbc news. for most of the day, friday, for many of you will have been a cloudy, rather grey, damp kind of day with some drizzle around, a bit of mist. but towards the end of friday, we started to get some sunnier breaks coming into the highlands of scotland — bit of sunshine on the horizon. those brighter skies to be found behind this cold front which, at the moment,

is pushing its way southwards. it will eventually bring much sunnier weather, at least for a time, to all parts of the uk. now, right now, we've still got extensive cloud across england and wales, still with those misty conditions, bit of hill fog and quite extensive drizzle but the clearer air is continuing to work down across northern areas. for many of us, saturday morning starting off on a frost—free note, but cold. but there will be some frost patches into scotland. here's your saturday morning, then. starting on a cloudy note for southern england and east anglia, still with some drizzle and mist. that clears through as our cold front finally pushes southwards, followed by sunshine for a time. however, into the afternoon, we'll see things cloud over once again for scotland and northern ireland with a bit of rain pushing in here. it will eventually turn quite mild — 11 in stornoway — whereas eastern scotland, eastern england staying on the chilly side — temperatures 6—8 degrees. saturday night, then, one of those nights where temperatures will actually rise through the night as milder southwesterly winds start to blow in and so, they will bring a completely different kind of weather feel for the second half of the weekend.

it's going to be a much milder day. there will be a lot of cloud around at times, a few breaks in the cloud, a bit of hazy sunshine here and there but for the highlands of scotland, we start to see a band of heavy and persistent rain move in. now, it will be a much milder day than we've been used to pretty much all week — temperatures around 12 or 13 degrees celsius. and this mild weather continues into monday, again with the extensive cloud around, just a few breaks in the cloud, bit of hazy sunshine for some. whereas for the highlands, we've got more rain in the forecast, and that rain actually continues into tuesday. we'll need to be watchful of that — there could be some localised surface water flooding building in early next week due to that persistent rain. so, a mild first half to the week but often quite cloudy with some patches of rain coming and going. really, from the second half of the week and into the following weekend, we see big changes in temperatures from one day to the next. one day will be mild, then colder air comes in, then mild again, then it turns colder again. all the while, it looks like the weather pattern�*s going to stay pretty unsettled in the run—up to christmas.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme.

i'll tell you what, uchka. this has got to be one of the most stunning road trips i think i've ever been on. i'm in mongolia, leaving the capital, ulaanbaatar, for the seemingly endless grassy plains of the steppe... ..accompanied by my translator, uchka. i already feel like i'm getting, like, a slight taste of nomadic life, just mainly because we are surrounded by nothing but wilderness. it's a world away from my home city, london. spread over 1.5 million square kilometres live just one million nomads... ..raising livestock and moving their camps from season to season. i've heard living in the steppes can be pretty tough, so this is going to be a true, true test of my resilience. but i'm looking forward to finding out if i've got what it takes.

my name's lucy hedges and, for the next 48 hours,