good morning. this is sky news today. it is 10:00. breaking news from the middle east as rebel forces in syria capture the capital and ousted the president. rebels declare damascus liberated as forces storm the iranian embassy. president bashar al assad has reportedly fled the country as the syrian prime minister says he's ready to hand over the government. we'll have the latest live from the region as more than half a century of assad dynasty rule comes to an end in syria. syria good morning. we begin with breaking news today in the syrian government appears to have collapseed after

a lightning offensive. people have taken to the streets to celebrate the end of the assad family's 50-year rule on the country. president bashar al assad has fled on a plane but his whereabouts are unknown. until recently, there have been a static division of control between three factions in syria, the rebels, led by the islamist group hayat tahrir al sham, president bashar al assad's forces and kurdish forces. idlib for years has been the last antiregime stronghold in syria. further west into aleppo, syria's second city, taking it in three days. on thursday, it dealt another blow to assad's regime, they pushed south into the city of hama. and yesterday, rebels seized the country's third biggest city

homs, having already taken other towns on their advance. now, rebels claim to have captured damascus, president assad's seat of power, the capital, forcing him to flee. alistair bunkall has more. >> reporter: it is all over. 54 years of brutal assad dynasty rule has come to an end. the streets of damascus have erupted in celebration. president assad has fled the country, and the capital has fallen. political prisoners have been freed from the country's notorious jails. this appears to show prisoners leaving the saydnaya military prison. rebel commanders have warned people not to harm them. syria's prime minister has stayed in damascus, and has offered the rebels a peaceful

transition of power. transition . >> translator: this country can be a normal country, a country that builds good relations with its neighbors and with the world. that entry into any regional alliances, we will lead any new leadership chosen by the syrian people and we're ready to cooperate with any new leadership and facilitate what they need so that there government departments can be transferred smoothly and systematically in a way that preserves the state's facilities. >> reporter: rebels only reached the outskirts of damascus yesterday afternoon. this happened a few miles from the center of the syrian capital. a statue of hafez al assad, syria's last leader, was pulled down. the rebels sense that victory was in their sights, but this has happened more quickly than anyone predicted. >> translator: dear brothers, we

are living in the final moments of the liberation of the city of homs. this is the historic event we distinguished true from falsehood. we advise our brothers in the resistance to show compassion toward the people. those who lay down their weapons should be granted safety and as you flee should not be caught. >> reporter: syrian government forces seem to be fleeing. the military base in hama was abandoned. and regime soldiers on the right of the video are abandoning their posts in the west of damascus, seen changing out mir military fatigues into civilian clothing, and fading into the population. every building and town square the rebels take, symbols and images of the regime are being torn down as syria faces a new and unknown reality. the coming hours and days will be crucial. not just for the future of syria, but for wider middle east

stability. >> alistair joins me now. and we're seeing, well, immediate response in syria and celebrations there, and also elsewhere to this news that bashar al assad fled the country. >> reporter: yeah, celebrations across the region because let's not forget, there are millions of syrian refugees who fled the civil war over the past decade, and particularly after the uprisings in 2011. they have been living in jordan, in lebanon, in turkey, and elsewhere. and now they see an opportunity to return home, they see an opportunity to go back to a liberated syria. celebrations on the streets of damascus and other major cities in syria itself, but also amongst the refugee population who have spent so many years away from their homeland and will now be looking to return. it is a feeling of euphoria, a feeling of light after years and years of dark assad rule, dating

back 54 years. it was hafez al assad who was the first dictator in the dynasty. he then gave over power to his second eldest son, bashar al assad, who continued in much the same brutal fashion. so right now, as i say, euphoria, but what happens next is what's concerning a lot of people around the world. >> yes, well, that does precipitate my next question about the ramifications for the wider region, of course. syria borders lebanon and israel. and also what does it mean for iran too, which until fairly recently were backers of bashar al assad? >> reporter: yeah, well, let's look at two of its main backers first, russia and iran. for russia, they have been preoccupied in ukraine. i think that's played a big part in what has happened here. they have got these military bases on the coast which remain

strategically vital to them because it gives them an outlet they don't have to the mediterranean, suez canal, et cetera. i assume they want to hold on to the strategic bases and while they abandoned president assad, i don't think they want to abandon those bases quickly. and iran, which uses syria as a centerpiece to create and cultivate this kind of sheer presence across the part of the middle east from iran, through parts of northern iraq, into syria and into lebanon, it was where they were able to channel -- they could funnel weapons into hezbollah, that is all falling apart now. hezbollah was pushed back decades by the war with israel over recent months. iran has stopped its own attacks by israel the last few months and now syria and their supporters, their allies there,

assad has fled the country. this is a bad moment for syria, it is a bad moment for russia. just a word on israel, the israelis are watching this very closely and very nervously. actually that border up in the occupied of the golan heights has been relatively stable for many years but they will be concerned if rebel groups take control of the area along the borders, they started to do so, then perhaps i don't think in the short-term, in the medium term, perhaps that presents a security challenge to israel, so they are beefing up their forces along the border. and lebanon, which has got very close ties with syria, the lebanese border, 45 minutes from damascus, i think we'll see a lot of refugees returning from lebanon to syria over the coming days, but, yeah, what happens in syria will have an impact in lebanon for sure. >> ali, stay there. in the past few moments we have had a statement from the syrian ministry of foreign affairs. i want to read it and get your

reaction to this because it starts, syrian brothers, today new page has been written in the history of syria, that statement says, to inaugurate a national covenant and charter that unites the word of the syrians, unites them and does not divide them, one homeland in which justice and equality prevail and in which everyone enjoys all rights and duties far from a single opinion. citizenship is the basis, says this statement, from the syrian ministry of foreign affairs. it goes on, the ministry, in the syrian arab republic and as diplomatic missions abroad will remain committed to serving all fellow citizens and managing their affairs based on the trust they bear in representing the syrian people and the homeland remains supreme. that statement just coming in the past few months from the syrian ministry of foreign affairs. ali, back to you, this is almost reiterating what the leadership of the rebels have been saying is that they intend, what they're saying they intend to do is to be a more uniting force.

and that in a country where there has been disparate forces over the past decade or more. >> reporter: that is all gray language, all very positive, exactly what you want to be hearing at this stage. and it is, as you say, similar language to what we have been hearing from the rebel groups as well. i think a lot of people might sort of ask, well, why only now are you writing that? you've been part of the regime for many years, you have been complicit in a regime that has killed and imprisoned thousands of its own people, used chemical weapons and barrel bombs against its own people and now writing messages and releasing statements about cohesiveness, only when you realize that the regime's days are now over. and i think there might be a degree of cynicism within syria towards any pillars of the former regime, and that's what

will have to be controlled very closely is to make sure that when this celebration dies down, people then don't turn their anger, perhaps turn their guns on any remnant of the regime, but, in fact, they can bring syrians together and try and make sure that this is a brighter future for syria, not just the end of one chapter and the start of another chapter of civil war. >> alistair bunkall, thank you very much indeed. mohammad ghazi al jalali has been speaking this morning. let's listen to what he had to say. >> translator: this country can be a ormal country, a country that builds good relations with its neighbors and with the word. without entry into any regional alliances. we're ready to cooperate with any new leadership and

facilitate what they need so that there is government departments that can be transferred smoothly and systematically in a way that preserves the state facilities. >> security and defense editor deborah haines has the latest on the impact on the region. >> iran and russia were both absolutely instrumental in propping up the assad regime from 2011 when you'll remember the uprising, a peaceful uprising first began inside syria, calling for change, calling for an end to a regime that had ruled with such brutality for so long. even back then, it was part of the wider arab spring that started in tunisia. you saw it moving into egypt. and it exploded across libya and also in syria and yet in response to the uprising in syria, the assad regime cracked down with absolute brutality.

you'll remember that they even resorted to using chemical weapons against its people, they used barrel bombs, there was absolute carnage across places such as aleppo, huge sways of that city were reduced to rubble under the force of the assad regime, backed by iran and backed by russia. russia has two strategic military bases inside syria, a naval facility which is key for projecting russian influence across the region and also for sending forces further afield, they use an air base too, both along the mediterranean coast, sending forces to africa. it is a really important hub for russia. and russia has been a key ally to assad, but russia and iran have both been massively

distracted by even bigger challenges. for russia, it launched its full scale invasion of ukraine, which sucked up huge amounts of manpower and military equipment. and then for iran, it has been locked for decades in a shadow war with israel and that's erupted into real war with israel's operations against hamas-funded, supported by iran in gaza, and also against hezbollah, a key ally of iran and lebanon. hezbollah has been an important force inside syria too, and actually it does seem as though hezbollah's operations inside syria in support of the assad regime enabled israel to gather intelligence on hezbollah which was an instrumental part in the unpicking and demolition of the hezbollah leadership that we

have seen over the last few months, which has culminated in dramatic changes across that part of the region too. so, while, yes, iran and russia will be looking in horror, it would appear given the rapid collapse of the assad regime without its key backers that they are very limited in what they can do and so presumably they will be trying to work out how best to contain the crisis and maybe for russia how best to protect its military bases inside syria, will it be trying to cut some kind of deal with the new power leaders that are going to be emerging on the ground? lots of questions. not many answers, i'm afraid. >> back here in the uk, the government has welcomed the reports that the assad regime has fallen in syria. speaking on sky news earlier on, the deputy prime minister angela rayner told trevor phillips that

the situation is still precarious. >> assad has fallen and that regime is over, i welcome that. he wasn't exactly good to the syrian people. so we want to see a political resolution so that we can get that stability for syrians and make sure they have the infrastructure so that they have a political government there that is working in the interest of the syrian people. that's what we need long-term for the area and that hopefully working with our allies in the u.n. we'll be able to make sure that happens. >> we also heard from the shadow foreign secretary who is in bahrain, priti patel told trevor it is too soon to know what is going to happen next but focus should be on protecting the syrian people. >> the last few days have been much discussion about what has been going on in syria and obviously some of the key players. but the reality is overnight things have moved very, very quickly. and, of course, that means we all need to be watching the current situation very carefully. i think there is a degree of -- similar thought here that it is

too early to know how this is going to pan out, but ultimately, trevor, this is about the syrian people. syrians need to be protected, all communities and groups including all minorities. so we all need to look very carefully about how we respond and certainly from the perspective of this region, as ever is the case of how we work together to i think effectively try and influence the right kind of outcome, put the syrian people first, but also look at the sort of government structures that could occupy syria going forward and what that means for us not just abroad in this region, but actually for us domestically at home. >> let's bring in amanda acas now. we have seen since labor came to power that they have been trying to focus on the domestic situation and then being pulled back towards foreign issues like this one. >> yes, indeed. and world situation that is incredibly unstable and yet again keir starmer is to head to the middle east. he thought he would be talking

to the leaders of the uae and saudi arabia about trade. now it certainly looks like he's going to be focused instead on geopolitical situation indeed. angela rayner in her interview did talk about the fact that we would be working with our international partners to discuss what would be best to support the future of syria in terms of what she described as a kind of political solution to the situation along the lines of the u.n. resolutions that have been passed. going on to talk about the importance of democracy and a government which represents the interests of the syrian people. obviously under the regime of president assad that hasn't been the case. priti patel going a little bit further, really, saying that the government should be working to ensure the right kind of government outcomes in syria going forward. but i think obviously there is a

little bit of treading quite carefully around this because clearly everyone knows the history of the uk, attempts to get involved in the middle east in terms of the falls of dictators. in libya, for example, and then what happened afterwards when attempts to build the different kind of government structures fell apart. i think there is a sense of slight note of caution there, saying we're waiting to see exactly what is going to happen there. and a concern about what might follow while still welcoming the fall of a murderous dictator. and interestingly, we had some interventions from the democrat mps in particular, laila moran, tweeting this morning that for her it is hard to be happy knowing assad is gone, not because he wasn't evil and horrible, but what comes next might be equally bad in other ways. we had a much more optimistic view of this from angela rayner and priti patel, but i think there is still an awareness of that there. and i think the uk government will be looking at this more

broadly as well, in terms of what this could mean for the uk. not just in terms of possible defense security implications, more instability in the middle east, and also in terms of the refugee situation. obviously many people came from syria, well, some of those people want to go back, but many more people have been displaced by the recent fighting so that remains to be seen what happens. >> a bit of a vacuum as things currently stand and someone is going to fill it. amanda, thank you very much indeed. you're watching sky news today. coming up, we'll look back at bashar al assad's regime and what could be next for him. ar ad what could be next for him how to fix things. ♪♪ fun recip... (high pitched sound) (high pitched sound) (high pitched sound)

♪ ♪ ♪ something has changed within me ♪ ♪ something is not the same ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ it's time to try defying gravity ♪ we would love for you to be our elphaba. we want you to be our glinda the good. ♪ ♪ -- meanwhile, assad was re-elected in a controversial election held only in government-controlled areas.

in 2015, russia launched air strikes in syria in support of assad, shifting the balance of power in the conflict and bolstering his regime. syrian government forces backed by russia and iran at this point took aleppo in 2016, which is a major rebel stronghold marking a pivotal moment in the war. between 2018 and 2021, assad's forces regained most of the country with russian and iranian support continuing. despite all going skirmishes, cease-fires in some areas reduced active fighting. after more than a decade of isolation, assad's regime was then readmitted to the arab league in 2023, signaling a shift in regional politics and an effort to normalize relations. and now, today, reports come in that syrian president bashar al assad has fled damascus. earlier my colleague spoke to danny mackey, a journalist in damascus, on the current situation there.

>> it has been quite a spectacular week. evening in damascus. we're seeing a number of really stunning events which you haven't seen. we saw president assad flee with his entourage, we have seen damascus, the capital city, fall to the rebels completely almost for the first time in 15 years. they're still fighting within the city. i can hear gunfire, occasional explosion. but apart from that, i can safely tell you that by the morning, the hold of the capital will be under the control of the rebels. and this will probably herald a new dawn for syrians. this is something that people have been pushing towards. and it has culminated in this offensive in damascus, which was really actually supported by people within damascus taking to the streets and picking up arms and taking this to another level. there is a lot of anger, there is a lot of people who are starving, people who are fed up with the long years of war, with

the lack of development in the country, and definitely change was on the agenda. and with the loss of syrian army morale, we see army positions being abandoned, we see soldiers take off their military attire and wear civilian clothes, escaping anywhere to safety. we have seen chaos today. and something which was completely unexpected. no one ever thought things would happen in this particular way. the sheer chaos of it all is something to take in this evening. and we're looking for new syria now, something we can, you know, one population, a lot of people from different sides have to come together and see where this goes ahead, we know that parts -- remnants of the old regime are still here. they'll probably be willing to play a part in taking country forward, but when the fighting stops, which should be very soon, you will find a city

united here. >> that's danny mackey, who is in syria. you're watching sky news. coming up, what is next for the wider middle east after the fall of the assad regime? i'll be hearing from the former head of mi-6. hearing from the f head of mi-6

♪ ♪ ♪ something has changed within me ♪ ♪ something is not the same ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ it's time to try defying gravity ♪ we would love for you to be our elphaba. we want you to be our glinda the good. ♪ ♪

welcome back. reminder of our breaking news this morning, rebel forces in syria say they have captured the capital and ousted the president. gunfire, fireworks and a chance of freedom were heard in damascus as residents took to the streets in celebration. president bashar al assad has reportedly fled the country now, as the syrian prime minister says he is ready to hand over the government. earlier on, trevor phillips spoke to the former head of mi-6 john sawers on what could be next. >> it was a surprise to everyone, trevor. probably came as a surprise to tahrir al sham, hts, the main

rebel group involved in this march on damascus. i don't think they expected to go so far, so fast. i think we're all surprised how the regime forces have just completely collapsed, even those most loyal to the regime and closest to the regime. so, yes, it is a surprise, it is not a failure of intelligence, it is a surprise to everyone. >> do you think that -- what does it tell us about -- we have been discussing the russians and also the turks. do you detect the hand of turkey in this? >> well, turkey certainly has a close interest in this. the tahrir al sham isn't the group closest to the turks in terms of cooperation and training and supply. but turkey has a very close interest and i think things have moved in a very favorable direction for turkey. and i think they will be the most interesting and influential country in the region now as the various opposition groups come together to try to have a consensus about how a new regime

comes into play. it is encouraging, i think, that the outgoing prime minister has stayed behind to have some more orderly transition of power. the rebel forces themselves do not seem to be seeking vengeance on any groups. though, of course, there will be some accounting for the terrible brutality of the assad regime and the torture and murder of so many opposition figures, there is bound to be some settling of scores at some point. >> what is your estimate, from what we know of hts? when i was chief of mi-6 we looked at all the syrian opposition groups and classified them into those we could support and those who will be on the pale and too close to al qaeda and tahrir al sham was in the latter category. but i think when mohammad al jalali made great efforts to distance himself from those terrorist groups and certainly the actions we have seen of

tahrir al sham over the last two weeks has been those of a liberation movement, not of a terrorist organization. there is a new reality in syria now, we have seen the collapse of a brutal, terrible organization, regime that has been in power for over 50 years in syria, and i was living in syria back in the 1980s, and saw the regime oppression with my own eyes in places like hama and now the regime which represented only 15% minority sect within syria has gone. there will be a sense of celebration, euphoria, but a real hard task lies ahead now to try to pull the country together. and it doesn't have any tradition of democracy. these are armed groups that have come together, so it is not like they're political groups, political units. i think the turks as i say will play a crucial role in trying to bring these various groupings together to form a single coherent new regime.

>> you sound very optimistic. can i just say the words afghanistan, iraq, and, i guess, libya? >> i think the most accurate comparison is libya, that's a bad comparison, where the regime -- the country has been divided between different groups with different powers supporting and promoting the division of the country. actually, you know, it is very hard to -- people to understand how far iraq has developed. actually baghdad is a remarkable place these days for businesses that go there. it is the one country of the three that has recovered best from the collapse of the brutal regime. of course, afghanistan has gone back to brutality because of the rather inept withdrawal of the u.s. forces back in 2021. so, why is this better? i think it is because, first of all, the majority of syrians are

sunni and they have been repressed for a very long time. and i think there is a good opportunity for them to come together and have a new government, new constitution, new dispensation there. yes, there will be a very difficult time ahead. and there could well be elements of the old regime as we saw in iraq in the 2000s, elements of the old regime that fight a rear guard insurgency in the heartland, in the northwest of syria. i hope that doesn't happen. and the russians may have a role here. the russians have a -- you asked me about the russians, they have a major naval base and intelligence collection base on the mediterranean coast of syria. they will want to hold on to those facilities that they have there, which means they have to come to terms with a new group, new powers in syria. but, of course, they have been instrumental in keeping the repressive assad regime in power. so, we're at a situation where the collapse of this brutal regime is really welcome, as

angela rayner said, but there is a lot of uncertainty and unpredictability ahead. i don't deny that at all. >> former mi-6 boss john sawers talking to trevor phillips early on. trevor joins me now. good morning, trevor. >> hi, matt. >> we have to focus on syria. it is the biggest story in town. a huge change as john sawers was alluding to there. he seems quite optimistic. i want to pick up on one thing he said to you, he said there is a new reality in syria. it is also new reality on the global stage, which inevitably means the prime minister, our government, are involved in this in some way, in terms of discussions with our global partners. >> well, of course. a concrete reality is that prime ministers off to the middle east this week, he's going to the uae tonight, i think, and he will no doubt be plunged straight into conversations with our partners

and others out there about what this means. because though i think first reaction, of course, has been, if you like, ebullience on the streets and so on, there is already creeping in a note of concern. are we going from frying pan into fire? nobody quite knows exactly what hts, what his people are going to be like with the awful warning i think john sawers mentioned libya in front of us, when i really thought gadhafi is gone, it is all going to be different and it turned out for a while to be worse. so there is some anxiety about that. but beyond that, there is actually the -- if you like the bigger power question here, the interesting thing that happened here and as you say, the striking thing with the first person out of the traps to welcome this was the turkish

leader, recep tayyep erdogan. there is a situation here that the turks may actually have known what was coming and to some extent been the agents of it. and that will make them a bigger player in the region. what the iranians, israelis and russians are going to think about that, well, that's still to be seen. >> it is interesting, trevor, you talk about president erdogan in turkey being quick out of the blocks, not far behind in terms of commenting on the wider ramifications of this is president-elect donald trump. there is, of course, a connection between syria and bashar al assad having diminished russian backing with what russia is having to do in ukraine. that's what trump seems to be focusing on. he said on truth social that russia lost all interest in syria because of the ukraine war. he's then gone on to say on truth social that should be an immediate cease-fire and negotiations in ukraine. all these things from the middle

east up to ukraine and russia are connected. >> yes, indeed. and it is worth remembering the russians have a big base in syria. and one guesses that they are going to want to be able to make sure that that base stays safe, and secure and is of practical use. so whoever comes in, whatever the new regime looks like, you guess the russians are going to want to, if you like, treat with them, and have a good -- have a relationship, which may also explain, by the way, why they didn't pile in behind bashar al assad this week. >> you know, trevor, before this became apparent that damascus was going to fall and bashar al assad was going to flee the country, i wanted to talk to you about the domestic politics we had this week. of course, it is easy to forget, things move so quickly that keir starmer had his big set piece earlier in the moment setting out his milestones to government, hot on the heels of

foundations and pillars and all sorts of -- >> all sorts of structures. >> structures, call it what you like. but once more, as i said to amanda, our correspondent, it is that foreign policy that is pulling the government, angela rayner was alluding to it as well, pulling away from the domestic scene. >> yes. and though, you know, i think it is proper for governments to walk and chew gum at the same time. and i think that we had an interesting discussion about that speech. there is a danger, of course, that four years from now we won't be calling them milestones, we will be calling them tombstones if they don't hit those targets. and angela rayner was very keen to talk about her target, 1.5 million homes. she pointed out to me, i mean, very kind of her, to say how difficult it was, that that hasn't been achieved since the 1950s, the question is what are you going to do that is going to

make anything different? and what she told me is, essentially, that she is going to tell all those councils, many of them labor councils, and all those mps, many of them labor mps, who object to building on green belt, who object to development and so on, you know, suck it up. don't mess with big ang. and as for the bats and the neuts who stand in the way of development, they need to pack their bags and go to some different country, because she's coming for you. i thought it was rather spirited. we'll see actually what the -- how the intention collides with reality. >> trevor, always great to chat. looking forward to doing the same next weekend, of course. >> see you next weekend. >> have a good one. let's get more reaction to the situation in syria. joining me is matthew oket, the mercy corps country director for syria. thank you very much for joining us. just set the wider context of

the humanitarian situation in syria as things currently stand. >> thank you for having me, matt. the current situation in syria is extremely fluid at this very moment. you can imagine. and against the backdrop of the highest time of needs in syria since the beginning of the civil war. despite five years of relative stability, around conflict lines, syria had slowly slided into extreme vulnerability. and that's very much the case. now, since the beginning of the offensive ten days ago, roughly 400,000 people have been displaced and people now continue to be displaced, especially in north syria where despite events of this morning in damascus, weapons have not gone silent. so we continue to see extremely vulnerable people moving across lines of control in north syria. now, the change of leadership in damascus obviously recalibrates

the type of humanitarian needs and responses that we will be providing in many other parts of syria. in the northwest, for example, we still provide water, sanitation and hygiene services in 45 idp camps that continue to see arrival even last week due to air strikes. but now we may see a different type of movement, a rebirth movement, where people in camps are very eager to return home and resume their lives. it is too early to say. people are now -- what we call are doing go and see visits to check on their property. but we are really likely to see as we see across the syrian border as of this morning many people trying to rebuild their lives and return to their areas of origin. >> yeah, mathieu, i'll come back to the external displacement in a moment. first, let's look at the

internal displacement, as the rebels started to make gains with aleppo, people in aleppo were moving out of the way, and a lot of them went to homs and hama and the rebels arrived there and they wanted to flee that. despite the scenes of jubilation we see in damascus, there will be a lot of people who are simply quite afraid of what is happening. and like you say, the violence hasn't entirely ended either. >> that's right. unfortunately we're still gathering information at this stage about displacement from hama and from homs. it is unclear what the numbers are and where people have gone. and i would rather not speculate around that. but it is quite obvious that people must have moved with little time to prepare and little to gather and leave with. >> and then as i said, let's return to the external displacement. of course there are going to be

knock on effects for the border area with turkey and lebanon. we saw so many syrian refugees flee to areas of lebanon, more than a million people homed there in temporary refugee camps. do you get the sense, you mentioned it before, people going back and checking on, but there must be a pull to go home given the regime seems to have fallen. >> indeed. as your previous guest mentioned, rightly so, there is a lot of uncertainty around governance, around delivery of basic services, and therefore those intentions are going to be put against the reality of what they find when they come home. there will be enormous issues around housing, land and property, for example, that we as a community will have to support. but we do see after years of internal or external exile clear

willingness for people to return home. >> mathieu, final question from me, it is a broader one on the pressure on humanitarian organizations such as yourselves at the mercy corps to deliver what people need because this is happening in so many places. of course, people often think we don't talk enough about sudan, but the massive displacement of millions there is an issue, clearly gaza, lebanon, now syria and other places as well. are you feel like you're under more pressure than you ever have been? >> absolutely. the humanitarian response plan for syria was very fully funded and remains fully funded, so we definitely need the international community's attention to this -- for this event of enormous magnitude to be able to provide a response that is commensurate to the needs that we see on the ground. >> mathieu rouquette, thank you.

>> thank you. you're watching sky news today. coming up, professor michael clock, his take on the latest situation in syria. clock, his t situation in syria

♪ ♪ ♪ something has changed within me ♪ ♪ it's time to try defying gravity ♪ ♪ ♪

the sect were an offshoot from islam. they split away in the seventh, eighth centuries and they're concentrated on the coast, the alawite grouping and they cover the golan heights and what happened is that when bashar al assad took over from his father in, what, 2000, he was not -- he was not popular within the elite in syria, and he replaced all the people that his father had had in government with alawite loyalists. and from them on, he began to be pretty repressive. some thought he was a reformer.

in some ways he was, but he repressed dissent because he based his government on this alawite elite that he had brought in. and the alawite people of syria are very worried there will be retribution for the last 20 at years. we'll see. people say there won't be, but there might be. >> let's talk about the rubbles and rebels, rebels, new affiliation of this group, hts, there are other nonsecular rebels there as well. and also the kurds are still controlling a large part of northern syria. so they all play a part in this. >> yeah, the syrian democratic forces, they are called, are kurdish, backed by the americans. not backed strongly, but backed by the united states because i think western world has always felt sympathetic to the problem of the kurds. the kurdish people cover syria, northern iraq, and southern turkey. if you drew a circle on the map, it would cover the border of all those three countries and there

is a lot of kurdish people in the world demanding statehood and thought they were close to it. in 2011, 2012, with the arab spring. and the sdf are curedish kurdi who control a lot of the north, cities into iraq, and they -- it was the kurdish groups that did -- the east of the country, so assad was beset on three sides by three different groups. the group in the east doing him most damage was the sdf, the kurdish group operating a long way to the east of damascus but really important. that's one of the old caravan routes. if anything is going on in syria, there is always something going on in darasol. >> let's go to the neighboring countries who are just seeing celebrations there in istanbul, in turkey. turkey had involvement in syria

for quite some time, erdogan, president erdogan of turkey would like to see the toppling of president bashar al assad. but at the same time, president erdogan is not friendly toward the kurds either. so, this is not straightforward. >> not at all. and all the information we have is erdogan knew about the hts offensive, knew beforehand and he was helping and he was providing them with materiel and support and he advised them not to do it. the reason he didn't want them to do it is that he thought it would create instability which would bring more refugees to the turkish side of the border. he didn't want that fallout. but they did it anyway, and because they're more successful probably than he or they thought they would be, he's now seeing the opportunity. his opportunity is to move further into northern syria, they were already holding some territory on the border, basically turkish enclaves inside syria and extending those enclaves by the look of it and he's hitting out at kurdish groups. where you have the kurdish

minority who are attacking assad, you got the turkish army who are taking this opportunity to strengthen their border against the kurds. so there is a whole separate war, small war at the moment, but a whole separate war going on in northern syria. >> and michael, just to finish off this power vacuum we have now, what does it also mean for the other neighboring countries of lebanon, israel, and also what does it mean for iran too? >> yeah. well, the immediate winners from this, matt, are israel and turkey because israelis are talking about remaking the middle east, and here is a power vacuum in syria that will help them, they hope, to remake it in a way that they find useful. turkey will benefit from this, as it happens, because it will be more assertive against the kurds. the two losers from this immediately are russia and iran. iranians lose their influence in syria, which is critical to their ability to operate in lebanon and against israel. so they lose a main transit point. and the russians, of course, are

almost certain to lose their two bases in syria, the air base and the naval base. and, remember, tartus is the only russian navy base in the whole of the mediterranean and it looks like they almost certainly will lose it. so the russians actually are going to get pushed back here quite -- in quite a big way, and the iranians, of course, have had bad news on every front since the 7th of october. >> michael, we have a couple more minutes left. you scaled it up to the widest geopolitical stage if it is possible to call it that, mentioning russia. we have to bring in the u.s. as well given the situation in ukraine. we already had response this morning from president-elect donald trump, effectively saying russia lost interest in syria. it seems to be the case without his backers bashar al assad has fled and we don't know where. how do you see this playing out next in terms of u.s. and russian involvement? >> yeah, i mean, the russians, i think, you know, are -- this is a setback for them. i don't see how he'll bet get b

into syria. we'll see what happens internally in syria, but it probably won't be good for the russians. i think there will be a lot of resentment because all the help they gave to assad was essentially air power. they bombed people and were bombing civilian centers, very deliberately and he used chemical weapons more than 200 times after 2013 when the barriers came down as it were to the use of chemical weapons. so i don't think the russians will be in a good position at all in syriale following this. what that does to the war in ukraine, we're not certain. the united states, joe biden said we're watching with great concern and interest and so on. but, i mean, effectively, america like britain has been out of this picture since 2013 when we completely messed up the idea of a red line of a chemical weapons use then in august 2013. and trump, president-elect trump has said this is nothing to do with us. and so the -- however bad it may get in syria, and it may not get

bad, who knows, there may be a bright future, but however bad it gets, the united states will be staying out of it, and that means that britain and the europeans will stay out of it, except maybe at the humanitarian level. >> okay. professor michael clark, always a pleasure. thank you very much indeed. you're watching sky news. stay with us. u very much indeed you're watching sky news stay with us ♪♪ dancing in the par... (high pitched sound) (high pitched sound) (high pitched sound)

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