“We will not hesitate to hold accountable the criminals, murderers, security and army officers involved in torturing the Syrian people,” rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, now using his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, said on Tuesday in a statement on Telegram.

“We will offer rewards to anyone who provides information about senior army and security officers involved in war crimes,” he said, adding the incoming authorities would seek the return of officials who have fled abroad.

Sharaa held talks on Monday with outgoing prime minister Mohammed al-Jalali “to coordinate a transfer of power that guarantees the provision of services” to Syria’s people, according to an earlier statement on Telegram.

While Syria had been at war for over 13 years, the government’s collapse came in a matter of days in a lightning offensive led by Sharaa’s Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

Even as some Syrians rejoiced and others rushed to search for loved ones in Assad’s notorious jails, Israel continued to carry out air strikes aimed at destroying the former government’s military capabilities, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Early Tuesday, AFP journalists heard more loud explosions in Damascus.

Israeli strikes

The Syrian Observatory said on Tuesday that Israel had “destroyed the most important military sites in Syria” with a flurry of air strikes since the fall of Assad.

It said Israel has carried out “about 250 air strikes on Syrian territory” over the last 48 hours.