Israel's Air Force yesterday continued to pound Syria, striking ports and missile warehouses in Latakia and Tartous provinces, as Israeli ground troops moved deeper into the Syrian Golan Heights, effectively expanding their occupation.

Rights groups sounded the alarm over worsening conditions in northeastern Syria, where fighting between Turkish-backed forces and Kurdish forces has displaced more than 100,000 people, reports Al Jazeera online.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor also reported Israeli strikes near Damascus yesterday.

Turkey-backed rebel forces are continuing their advance to "clear terrorism" in northern Syria, a Turkish defence ministry source said yesterday, referring to the forces' battle against a Kurdish militia in the region.

Turkey has been telling the United States repeatedly that "a terrorist organisation cannot be eliminated by using another terrorist organisation," the source also said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Jordan's King Abdullah yesterday as President Joe Biden's outgoing administration pushes for an "inclusive transition" in neighboring Syria following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad.

Blinken, who was due to head to Turkey later yesterday, is in the region to seek support for principles that Washington hopes will guide what happens next in Syria.

Meanwhile, Ahmad al-Sharaa - better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the main commander of the fighters who toppled Assad, told Reuters on Wednesday that he would dissolve the security forces of the former regime, close its prisons and hunt down anyone involved in the torture or killing of detainees.

Sharaa said in a separate statement on the Syrian state TV's Telegram channel that people who took part in the torture or killing of detainees would be hunted down, and pardons were out of the question.

Syria's new government spokesman told AFP yesterday that the country's constitution and parliament would be suspended for the duration of the three-month transition period following president Assad's ouster.

Sharaa's group is stamping its authority on Syria's state with the same lightning speed that it seized the country, deploying police, installing an interim government and meeting foreign envoys - raising concerns over how inclusive Damascus' new rulers intend to be.

Since Sharaa's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group swept Assad from power on Sunday at the head of a rebel alliance, its bureaucrats - who until last week were running an administration in a remote corner of Syria's northwest - have moved into government headquarters in Damascus.