Syria’s transitional government has vowed to dissolve and restructure all security agencies of the toppled dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime accused of mass killings and abuses.

Al-Assad, who ruled Syria for more than two decades, fled the country earlier this month as Islamist-led rebels advanced on the capital Damascus during a lighting sweep.

The interim government, installed by Syria’s new rulers, has since struggled to re-establish security and pursued a crackdown on al-Assad’s loyalists suspected of atrocities during his region.

Newly appointed intelligence chief Anas Khattab said all security agencies will be disbanded and rebuilt.

“The security establishment will be reconstituted after dissolving all security branches and restructuring them in a way befitting our people, sacrifices and their long history,” Syria’s state news agency SANA quoted him as saying late Saturday.

Khattab accused al-Assad’s regime of exploiting the security apparatus to oppress Syrians.

“Our valiant people, with all their different sects and categories, have suffered a lot of injustice and oppression of the former regime through its various security services,” he said.

The transitional government’s security forces have rounded up around 300 suspects in less than a week through ongoing operations in several parts of Syria, a monitoring group reported on Sunday.

The arrests included former officers, security personnel, and informants involved in detaining many Syrians, as well as other suspects in committing abuses under the protection of al-Assad’s regime, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights added.

According to the UK-based observatory, Lebanon Saturday handed over to Syrian authorities around 70 Syrians, including ex-officers, at a border crossing between the two countries. (dpa/NAN)

Mozambique’s disaster management agency announced that the death toll from Cyclone Chido has risen to 94.

The cyclone had made landfall in northern Mozambique a week ago and Mozambique’s institute for natural disasters on Thursday had given the death toll at 73.

The Indian Ocean archipelago Mayotte bore the brunt of the storm.

Officials in Mayotte, which is one of France’s poorest overseas territories, have only been able to confirm 35 fatalities from Chido, but some have said they fear thousands could have been killed.

Olamide Harrison, the International Monetary Fund’s Mozambique resident representative, said on Wednesday that the country’s 2024 economic growth would  likely be revised down from a previous forecast of 4.

3 per cent due to the impact of the cyclone and post-election civil unrest.

In October, Daniel Chapo, the candidate of Mozambique’s ruling party Frelimo, was declared winner of the presidential election. (Reuters/NAN)

There is no talk of a ceasefire deal between Turkey and the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria, contrary to a U.S. announcement on the issue, a Turkish defence ministry official said on Thursday.

The official was responding to comments from State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, who said a ceasefire between Turkey and the SDF around the northern Syrian city of Manbij has been extended until the end of this week.

“As Turkey, it is out of the question for us to have talks with any terrorist organisation.

“The (U.S.) statement must be a slip of the tongue,” the defence ministry official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters.

Washington brokered an initial ceasefire between Turkey-backed Syrian rebels and the SDF forces last week after fighting that broke out earlier this month as rebel groups advanced on Damascus and overthrew Bashar al-Assad.

The SDF is an ally in the U.S. coalition against Islamic State militants.

It is spearheaded by the YPG, a group that Ankara sees as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants who have fought the Turkish state for 40 years.

Turkey regards the PKK, YPG and SDF as terrorist groups. The U.S. and Turkey’s Western allies list the PKK as terrorist, but not the YPG and the SDF.

When asked if Ankara was considering another ground operation into northern Syria, the official said that Turkey still sees a threat to its borders from north Syria.

“Our preparations and precautions as part of the fight against terrorism will continue until the PKK/YPG lays down its arms and its foreign fighters leave Syria,” the official said.

Since 2016, Turkey has mounted four military operations in northern Syria, citing national security threats.

Turkey believes that forces of the Syrian National Army paramilitary group which it backs will “liberate” YPG-controlled areas in northern Syria, the official said, signalling that Turkey does not plan an imminent operation into the region by its military.

The SDF have close ties with Western countries including the U.S. and France. Recently, France said the political transition in Syria needed to ensure that the SDF was represented. (Reuters/NAN)