When new rulers with jihadi roots took power in Damascus, artists, singers and dancers held their breath. They can relax, the regime says.

Comics had already been trying to foster stand-up in Syria before Bashar al-Assad’s fall. Now, they are telling jokes in a liberated country, while warily eyeing the new government.

Nearly three months after Assad fled, much of Syria is suspended between relief at the dictatorship’s demise and anxiety over what comes next.

More than 1,000 Syrians died in detention at a military airport on the outskirts of Damascus, killed by execution, torture or maltreatment at a site that was widely feared, according to a report.

For decades, what went on behind the walls of the Sednaya military prison in Syria was largely hidden from the world. But after Bashar al-Assad lost power in 2024, droves of inmates were released. They are now sharing the horrors they experienced in the country's deadliest and most violent prison.

Assad's regime never recognised it and, despite his fall from power, its future remains uncertain. As well as more than a decade of civil war, the Syrian Kurds have faced years of conflict with its northern neighbour,

Israeli attacks are angering Syrians and unsettling the country’s new leaders, who are dealing with multiple crises after the end of Bashar al-Assad’s rule.

With the downfall of the Assad regime, Algeria lost a strong ally in the Arab region. Algiers is now seeking to establish relations with the new leadership in Damascus, hoping to maintain its old alliance despite the change of regime.

Although the conference was called to chart the country’s future, the Kurdish-led militia that controls much of Syria’s northeast was not invited.

Syria's interim president has told a national dialogue conference that the country has a "historic" opportunity to rebuild after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad. Ahmed al-Sharaa also stressed the need for armed groups to integrate into the military and for the state to have a monopoly on weapons,

Their routines included standard comedy fare — religion, sex and the pressure to get married — but the biggest punchline of the night was Assad.