Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz rebuffed on Wednesday Iranian accusation of a U.S.-Israeli "plot" to oust Syria's Bashar al-Assad, saying Tehran has itself to blame for the fall of its ally.

Katz, on a tour of the Jordanian border with military commanders, accused arch rival Iran of trying to establish an "eastern front" against Israel in the neighboring kingdom, and vowed to prevent it.

Israel must withdraw forces from the buffer zone separating the annexed Golan Heights from Syrian territory, France's foreign ministry said Wednesday.

"Any military deployment in the separation zone between Israel and Syria is a violation of the disengagement agreement of 1974... France calls on Israel to withdraw from the zone and to respect Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity," a foreign ministry spokesman said.

Russia said Wednesday it has maintained contacts with the new authorities in Syria.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “we are monitoring most closely what is happening in Syria.”

Insurgents have set on fire the tomb of Syria’s former President Hafez Assad in his hometown in the northwest, a war monitor and a local journalist said Wednesday.

Hafez Assad had ruled Syria for 30 years until his death in 2000, when his son, Bashar, succeeded him. Both ruled Syria with an iron fist and were blamed for crackdowns that left tens of thousands dead, mainly in the central city of Hama in 1982, and in much of the country since the civil war in 2011.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is returning to the Middle East this week on his 12th visit since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last year but his first since the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad that has sparked new fears of instability in the region now wracked by three conflicts despite a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon.

Blinken will travel to Jordan and Turkey on Thursday and Friday for talks expected to focus largely on Syria but also touch on long-elusive hopes for a deal to end the fighting in Gaza that has devastated the territory since October 2023.

Syria's rebel leader said Wednesday that officials involved in torturing detainees will not be pardoned, after thousands were released while families hoped to find others who disappeared in the country's notorious jails.

"We will not pardon those involved in torturing detainees," said Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, now using his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, urging "countries to hand over any of those criminals who may have fled so they can be brought to justice".

An Israeli bomb hangs suspended in air, caught in a split-second image of a suburb in Beirut before it slams into an apartment building, passersby already bracing for the explosion.

Across the Middle East this year, photographers froze moments in time, reflections of the wars and their horrors that have upended life across the region.

Syria's new transitional prime minister has called for Syrians who have sought refuge abroad to return to their homeland following the ouster of longtime president Bashar al-Assad.

Mohammad al-Bashir, appointed by rebel groups as the transitional head of government to run the country until March, told Italy's Corriere della Sera daily that one of his first goals was to "bring back the millions of Syrian refugees who are abroad".

The Biden administration says it will recognize and support a new Syrian government that renounces terrorism, destroys chemical weapons stocks and protects the rights of minorities and women.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the U.S. would work with groups in Syria and regional partners to ensure that the transition from President Bashar Assad’s deposed government runs smoothly. He was not specific about which groups the U.S. would work with.

Israel’s military said it bombed more than 350 sites in Syria during 48 hours, targeting “most of the strategic weapons stockpiles” in the country.

There is concern that, with the sudden collapse of the Syrian government, weapons stockpiles could be seized by jihadi militants.