Syrian rebel fighters set fire to tomb of Bashar al-Assad's father

Images show the fighters standing next to the burning gravesite of Hafez al-Assad in the western Syrian Latakia province.
BBC | Syrian rebels have set fire to the tomb of ex-President Bashar al-Assad's father in his former hometown.
Images show the fighters standing next to the burning gravesite of Hafez al-Assad in the western Syrian Latakia province.
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Meanwhile shops are reopening and people are returning to work in Damascus as day-to-day life gradually resumes.
Syria's new interim Prime Minister, Mohamed al-Bashir, has called on Syrians who fled the Assad regime and are seeking asylum across the globe to "come back".
In an interview with the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera, external, al-Bashir says his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) government is "inheriting a bloated administration plagued by corruption" and insists he will only remain in office until March 2025
He says Syria's finances are in a "very bad state" with no foreign reserves, but the transition PM says one of his top priorities is to restore security and stability in Syria.
Al-Bashir's second objectives include attempts to bring back millions of Syrian refugees who are seeking asylum around the world. "Come back," he tells the Italian newspaper. "We need to rebuild, to get our country on its feet again and we need everyone's help."
Another priority for al-Bashir is to tackle the "precariousness" of essential services in Syria such as electricity, food and water.
Some images coming to us from the western Syrian Latakia province where rebel fighters have been pictured standing next to the burning gravesite of late president Hafez al-Assad.
Part of the tomb of the father of Syria's ousted president Bashar al-Assad has been set on fire - including a coffin which appears to have been dragged outside and set alight.
Assad's father and predecessor died in 2000 and had been laid to rest at his mausoleum in the family's ancestral village of Qardaha.
Examining footage from the AFP news agency taken today it shows rebel fighters in fatigues and young men watching parts of the tomb - including a coffin - burn.
According to the UK-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) rebels set fire to the mausoleum, located in the Latakia heartland of Assad's Alawite community.
The footage also shows parts of the mausoleum ablaze and damaged.
Armed rebel fighters have also posed for a picture on the burnt gravesite of Hafez al-Assad at the family's ancestral village.