Bombay Durpun - UN envoy warns Syria conflict not over yet

Assad fled Syria just over a week ago following a lightning offensive spearheaded by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), more than 13 years after his crackdown on democracy protests precipitated one of the deadliest wars of the century.

But the United Nations' special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, said: "There have been significant hostilities in the last two weeks, before a ceasefire was brokered... A five-day ceasefire has now expired and I am seriously concerned about reports of military escalation.

"Such an escalation could be catastrophic."

The UN's migration chief, Amy Pope, meanwhile warned against a "large-scale return" of refugees to Syria, adding that "sending people back will only destabilise the country further".

She also told AFP that "tens of thousands" of people have fled Syria and "we are hearing that especially religious minorities are leaving." She pointed to reports that members of the Shiite Muslim minority had fled "not because they're actually threatened, but they're concerned about the possible threat".

Rooted in Syria's branch of Al-Qaeda, HTS is proscribed by several Western governments as a terrorist organisation, though it has sought to moderate its rhetoric and pledged to protect the country's religious minorities.

European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen pledged to intensify the EU's engagement with Syria's new rulers.

"Now we have to step up and continue our direct engagement with HTS and other factions," she said after talks in Ankara with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose government is in constant dialogue with HTS.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc would reopen its mission in Syria following "constructive" talks with its new leadership.

Turkey and Qatar, which backed the opposition, have reopened embassies in Damascus, while US officials have launched communications with Syria's new leaders.

- Rebels to 'disband' -

France sent a delegation to Damascus, with special envoy Jean-Francois Guillaume saying his country was preparing to stand with Syrians during the transition.

An AFP journalist saw the French flag raised in the embassy's entrance hall for the first time since the mission was shuttered in 2012.

After meeting Syria's new leaders, UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said he was "encouraged", and that there was a "basis for ambitious scaling-up of vital humanitarian support".

A British delegation also visited Damascus this week for "meetings with the new interim Syrian authorities", Prime Minister Keir Starmer's spokesman said.

"The meetings discussed what we can do to support a peaceful Syrian-led transition to restore stability, protect the rights of all Syrians, and ensure civilians are protected," he added.

Syria came under international sanctions over Assad's crackdown on an uprising against his rule, which sparked a war that killed more than 500,000 people and forced half of the population to flee their homes.

Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who heads HTS, stressed the need in a meeting with the British delegation to end "all sanctions imposed on Syria so that Syrian refugees can return to their country".

He also said Syria's rebel factions will be "disbanded and the fighters trained to join the ranks of the defence ministry".

- 'Colour of peace' -

In Damascus's old souk, many shops had reopened more than a week after Assad's ouster, according to an AFP journalist.

Some shopkeepers were painting their store facades white, erasing the colours of the old Syrian flag that under Assad's rule had become ubiquitous.

"We have been working non-stop for a week to paint everything white," Omar Bashur, a 61-year-old artisan said.

"White is the colour of peace," he added.

The supreme leader of Iran, which backed Assad throughout the civil war, said the Tehran-backed axis of resistance had not collapsed with the ouster of Syria's longtime strongman.

"With the developments in Syria and the crimes the Zionist regime is committing and the crimes that America is committing... they thought that the resistance was over," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised speech.

"They are completely wrong."

Tehran said its embassy in Syria -- abandoned and vandalised after Assad's ouster -- would reopen once the "necessary conditions" are met.

Russia was the other main backer of Assad's rule.

On Monday, the ousted president broke his silence with a statement on Telegram saying that he only left to Russia once Damascus had fallen, and denounced the country's new leaders as "terrorists".

"My departure from Syria was neither planned nor did it occur during the final hours of the battles," the statement said.

- 'My tears were dry' -

Around the country, Syrians deprived for years of news of missing loved ones searched desperately for clues that might help them find closure.

In a war-ravaged Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus, Radwan Adwan was stacking stones to rebuild his father's grave, finally able to return to the cemetery.

"Without the fall of the regime, it would have been impossible to see my father's grave again," the 45-year-old said.

His mother Zeina said she was "finally" able to weep for him. "Before, my tears were dry."

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on Syrian military assets in a bid to prevent them falling into hostile hands.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a security briefing atop a strategic Syrian mountain inside the UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights that Israel seized this month.

Netanyahu, Defence Minister Israel Katz and the heads of the armed forces and the domestic security agency visited "outposts at the summit of Mount Hermon for the first time since they were seized by the military", Katz's office said.

K.Williams--BD