- Le Pen says days of new French govt numbered
- Global stocks mostly rise after US tech rally
- Villa boss Emery set for 'very difficult' clash with Newcastle
- Investors swoop in to save German flying taxi startup
- How Finnish youth learn to spot disinformation
- South Korean opposition postpones decision to impeach acting president
- 12 killed in blast at Turkey explosives plant
- Panama leaders past and present reject Trump's threat of Canal takeover
- Hong Kong police issue fresh bounties for activists overseas
- Saving the mysterious African manatee at Cameroon hotspot
- India consider second spinner for Boxing Day Test
- London wall illuminates Covid's enduring pain at Christmas
- Poyet appointed manager at South Korea's Jeonbuk
- South Korea's opposition vows to impeach acting president
- The tsunami detection buoys safeguarding lives in Thailand
- Teen Konstas to open for Australia in Boxing Day India Test
- Asian stocks mostly up after US tech rally
- US panel could not reach consensus on US-Japan steel deal: Nippon
- The real-life violence that inspired South Korea's 'Squid Game'
- Blogs to Bluesky: social media shifts responses after 2004 tsunami
- Tennis power couple de Minaur and Boulter get engaged
- Supermaxi yachts eye record in gruelling Sydney-Hobart race
- Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupts, spewing columns of lava
- Canadian Government Provides C$100 Million Financing LOI to Green Technology Metals in Support of Electric Royalties' Flagship Lithium Royalty Asset in Ontario
- Sendero Resources Announces First Tranche Closing of Its Non-Brokered Private Placement
- EVSX Completes Installation of Multi Chemistry Line
- InterContinental Hotels Group PLC Announces Transaction in Own Shares - December 24
- El Salvador Congress votes to end ban on metal mining
- Five things to know about Panama Canal, in Trump's sights
- NBA fines Minnesota guard Edwards $75,000 for outburst
- Haitians massacred for practicing voodoo were abducted, hacked to death: UN
- Inter beat Como to keep in touch with leaders Atalanta
- Mixed day for global stocks as market hopes for 'Santa Claus rally'
- Man Utd boss Amorim questions 'choices' of Rashford's entourage
- Trump's TikTok love raises stakes in battle over app's fate
- Is he serious? Trump stirs unease with Panama, Greenland ploys
- England captain Stokes to miss three months with torn hamstring
- Support grows for Blake Lively over smear campaign claim
- Canada records 50,000 opioid overdose deaths since 2016
- Jordanian, Qatari envoys hold talks with Syria's new leader
- France's second woman premier makes surprise frontline return
- France's Macron announces fourth government of the year
- Netanyahu tells Israel parliament 'some progress' on Gaza hostage deal
- Guatemalan authorities recover minors taken by sect members
- Germany's far-right AfD holds march after Christmas market attack
- European, US markets wobble awaiting Santa rally
- Serie A basement club Monza fire coach Nesta
- Mozambique top court confirms ruling party disputed win
- Biden commutes almost all federal death sentences
- Syrian medics say were coerced into false chemical attack testimony
Syria Islamist rebel chief hails 'victory', at landmark Damascus mosque
Syria's rebel leader hailed a "historic" victory Sunday from a landmark Damascus mosque after his Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group headed a lightning offensive, snatching the capital from government control in less than two weeks.
His speech came as Syria's president Bashar al-Assad fled -- for Moscow according to Russian news agencies -- triggering celebrations across Syria and beyond at the end of his oppressive rule.
"This victory, my brothers, is historic for the region," HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, now using his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, said in a speech at the Umayyad Mosque.
He also said the rebel takeover was also a victory "for the entire Islamic nation", in the video statement shared by rebels on Telegram.
"Today, Syria is being purified," he said, adding that "this victory is born from the people who have languished in prison, and the mujahideen (fighters) broke their chains".
He said that, under Assad, Syria had become a place for "Iranian ambitions, where sectarianism was rife," in reference to Assad's allies Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah.
As he entered the mosque, crowds could be seen cheering him on and chanting "Allahu akbar (God is greatest)", videos circulating online showed.
HTS is rooted in the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda, with which it broke ties in 2016.
Proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Western governments, HTS has sought to soften its image in recent years.
The government fell more than 13 years after Assad's crackdown on anti-government protests ignited Syria's brutal civil war, which has drawn in foreign powers, jihadists and claimed more than half a million lives.
D.Kaufman--AMWN