Schools reopen a week after Assad left Syria

Students returned to classrooms in Syria on Sunday after the country's new rulers ordered schools to reopen in a potent sign of some normalcy a week after rebels swept into the capital in the fall of Bashar al-Assad's government.

The country's new de facto leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, faces a massive challenge to rebuild Syria after 13 years of civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of people. Cities were bombed to ruins, the economy was gutted by international sanctions, and millions of refugees still live in camps outside Syria.

Officials said most schools were opening around the country on Sunday, the first day of the working week in most Arab countries. However, some parents did not send their children to class due to uncertainty about the situation.

"The school has asked us to send middle and upper pupils back to class," mother of three Raghida Ghosn, 56, told AFP, adding that "the younger ones will go back in two days."

As Syria starts trying to rebuild, its neighbors and other foreign powers are still working out a new stance on the country a week after Assad's departure.

Top diplomats from the United States, Türkiye, the European Union and Arab nations met in Jordan on Saturday. In a joint statement, diplomats from those countries called for a Syrian-led transition to "produce an inclusive, non-sectarian and representative government formed through a transparent process."

A Qatari delegation was due in Syria Sunday to meet transitional government officials for talks on aid and reopening its embassy.

Both Israel and Türkiye have carried out military strikes inside Syria since Assad resigned as the country's President.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Sunday reported fresh Israeli strikes near Damascus after 60 strikes across Syria on Saturday.

The Britain-based observatory also reported strikes on Syrian army tunnels and arms depots in the Damir area near Damascus on Sunday.

Israel has also ordered troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, a move the UN said violated a 1974 armistice.

Al-Sharaa said the Israeli move "threatens a new unjustified escalation in the region." But he also said in an online statement that "the general exhaustion in Syria after years of war and conflict does not allow us to enter new conflicts." 

UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen arrived in Damascus on Sunday, urging "increased, immediate" aid to the war-ravaged country. "Syria has been through an enormous humanitarian crisis. We need to make sure that Syria receives increased, immediate humanitarian assistance," he said.

(With input from agencies)