Overview
- Thousands gathered in Damascus for dawn prayers at the Umayyad Mosque and nationwide parades, while the Kurdish-led administration in the northeast banned public events citing threats from terror cells.
- Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa pledged to rebuild the country, prioritize the missing, pursue accountability, and unify armed formations, outlining a four-year transition toward a new constitution followed by elections.
- Sharaa has recast foreign policy by courting the United States and Gulf states as many sanctions were lifted, even as Israeli operations and an expanded footprint on Syrian territory have increased tensions.
- UN reporting describes a fragmented security landscape with sectarian attacks and targeted killings documented in the past year, including incidents attributed to forces aligned with the interim authorities and clashes involving Druze and Kurdish areas.
- Humanitarian needs remain acute with tens of millions requiring aid, reconstruction estimates running into the hundreds of billions of dollars, cautious economic growth projected, and refugee returns rising but services and jobs still limited.