Prominent Lebanese figure meets Syrian insurgent who led Assad's ouster, seeking better relations

BEIRUT (AP) — A prominent Lebanese politician held talks on Sunday with the insurgent who led the overthrow of Syria's President Bashar Assad, with both expressing hope for a new era in relations between their countries.

Druze leader Walid Jumblatt is the most prominent Lebanese politician to visit Syria since the Assad family’s 54-year rule ended two weeks ago. Jumblatt was a longtime critic of Syria's involvement in Lebanon and blamed Assad's father, former leader Hafez Assad, for the assassination of his own father.

He held talks with Ahmad al-Sharaa, who led the Sunni Islamist rebels who swept into Damascus earlier this month and forced the younger Assad from power.

Now wearing a suit and tie, al-Sharaa has been meeting with diplomats and others from around the region and beyond as Assad's fall reshapes alliances and gives many long-stifled Syrians hope after more than 13 years of civil war and international sanctions.

“We salute the Syrian people for their great victories and we salute you for your battle that you waged to get rid of oppression and tyranny that lasted over 50 years,” said Jumblatt, a key figure in Lebanon’s Druze minority.

He expressed hope that Lebanese-Syrian relations “will return to normal.”

Jumblatt's father, Kamal, was killed in 1977 in an ambush near a Syrian roadblock during Syria's military intervention in Lebanon's civil war.

“Syria was a source of concern and disturbance, and its interference in Lebanese affairs was negative,” al-Sharaa said, referring to the Assad government. “Syria will no longer be a case of negative interference in Lebanon," he added.

Al-Sharaa also repeated longstanding allegations that Assad's government was behind the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which was followed by other killings of prominent Lebanese critics of Assad.

Last year, the United Nations closed an international tribunal investigating that assassination after it convicted three members of Lebanon's Hezbollah — an ally of Assad — in absentia. Hezbollah denied involvement in the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.

“We hope that all those who committed crimes against the Lebanese will be held accountable, and that fair trials will be held for those who committed crimes against the Syrian people,” Jumblatt said.

Separately, Iran's supreme leader asserted that young Syrians will resist the new government emerging after Assad's ouster, as he again accused the United States and Israel of sowing chaos in the country.

Iran provided crucial support to Assad throughout Syria's civil war, which erupted after he launched a violent crackdown on a popular uprising. Syria had long served as a key conduit for Iranian aid to Hezbollah.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in an address on Sunday that the “young Syrian has nothing to lose" and suffers from insecurity following Assad's fall.

“What can he do? He should stand with strong will against those who designed and those who implemented the insecurity," Khamenei said. He also accused the United States and Israel of plotting against Assad's government in order to seize resources.

Iran and its militant allies in the region have suffered major setbacks over the past year, with Israel battering Hamas in Gaza and landing heavy blows on Hezbollah before they agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon last month.

Khamenei denied that such groups were proxies of Iran, saying they fought because of their beliefs. “If one day we plan to take action, we do not need proxy force,” he said.

The head of a U.N.-backed team investigating crimes committed during the civil war said they are working with the country’s new authorities in hopes of preserving evidence uncovered after Assad’s ouster.

“We welcome the fact that we were invited to come and to engage with the authorities,” Robert Petit said Sunday, describing the meeting as “constructive.”

As journalists, researchers and the public stream into former detention centers and mass grave sites, many express fears that evidence is taken or destroyed.

Wafa Mustafa, a Syrian activist whose father, Ali, disappeared in 2013 in Damascus, said that "no one gets to tell the families what happened without evidence, without search, without work, without effort.”

Syria's civil war created millions of refugees, and thousands have begun returning. In a gray field of rubble outside Damascus, returnee Alaa Badawi worked with a shovel, looking for traces of his home.

His community, Qaboun, was an anti-government center and many of its buildings were flattened under Assad's administration.

“Which is our house? Which is our alley? There is nothing visible,” Badawi said.

He and others decided to dig a little here and there to look for the house's distinctive tiles. “We finally discovered that this is our house,” he said. "I do not know by then if I was happy to have located the house amid the rubble or upset because the house did not exist.”

Ziad Al-Hilli, one of the many people freed from prison as Assad fled to Russia, could not find his house, or his family.

Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s Syria coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/syria

Women look at photos of people reported to be missing by members of ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad's army, or a pro-government militia, in the Marjeh square in Damascus, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

People look at photos of people reported to be missing, by members of ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad's army or a pro-government militia, as others sit to smoke and drink tea at the Marjeh square in Damascus, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Hanaa, center, and her mother Khawla, left, who are searching for any information about her brother Hussam al-Khodr, look at photos of people reported to be missing by members of ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad's army, or a pro-government militia, in the Marjeh square in Damascus, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. According to Hanaa, her brother was a soldier and went missing in 2014. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

FILE - Lebanese Druse leader Walid Jumblatt speaks to the media after a meeting with France's President Francois Hollande at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)

In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves to the crowd during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. A portrait of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini hangs at right. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves to the crowd during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Two U.S. Navy pilots were shot down Sunday over the Red Sea in an apparent “friendly fire” incident, the U.S military said, marking the most serious incident to threaten troops in over a year of America targeting Yemen's Houthi rebels.

Both pilots were recovered alive after ejecting from their stricken aircraft, with one suffering minor injuries. But the shootdown underlines just how dangerous the Red Sea corridor has become, with ongoing attacks on shipping by the Iranian-backed Houthis despite U.S. and European military coalitions patrolling the area.

The U.S. military had conducted airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels at the time of the friendly fire incident, though the U.S. military’s Central Command did not elaborate on what the pilots' mission was and did not respond to questions from The Associated Press.

The F/A-18 shot down had just flown off the deck of the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, Central Command said. On Dec. 15, Central Command acknowledged the Truman had entered the Mideast, but hadn't specified that the carrier and its battle group was in the Red Sea.

“The guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, which is part of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, mistakenly fired on and hit the F/A-18,” Central Command said in a statement.

From the military's description, the aircraft shot down was a two-seat F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet assigned to the “Red Rippers” of Strike Fighter Squadron 11 out of Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia.

It wasn't immediately clear how the Gettysburg could mistake an F/A-18 for an enemy aircraft or missile, particularly as ships in a battle group remain linked by both radar and radio communication.

However, Central Command said that warships and aircraft earlier shot down multiple Houthi drones and an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the rebels. Incoming hostile fire from the Houthis has given sailors just seconds to make decisions in the past.

Since the Truman's arrival, the U.S. has stepped up its airstrikes targeting the Houthis and their missile fire into the Red Sea and the surrounding area. However, the presence of an American warship group may spark renewed attacks from the rebels, like what the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower saw earlier this year. That deployment marked what the Navy described as its most intense combat since World War II.

On Saturday night and early Sunday, U.S. warplanes conducted airstrikes that shook Sanaa, the capital of Yemen that the Houthis have held since 2014. Central Command described the strikes as targeting a “missile storage facility” and a “command-and-control facility,” without elaborating.

Houthi-controlled media reported strikes in both Sanaa and around the port city of Hodeida, without offering any casualty or damage information. In Sanaa, strikes appeared particularly targeted at a mountainside known to be home to military installations. However, there were no images or information released regarding the strikes — which has happened previously when airstrikes hit vital facilities for the rebels.

Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, released a prerecorded statement hours later in which he claimed the rebels launched eight drones and 17 cruise missiles in their attack. He also claimed without offering any evidence that the Houthis shot down the F/A-18, likely following a pattern of him making exaggerated claims. During the Eisenhower's deployment, he repeatedly falsely claimed the carrier had been struck by Houthi fire.

The Houthis have targeted about 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip started in October 2023 after Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage.

Israel’s grinding offensive in Gaza has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, local health officials say. The tally doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians.

The Houthis have seized one vessel and sunk two in a campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by separate U.S.- and European-led coalitions in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have also included Western military vessels.

The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the United Kingdom to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.

The Houthis also have increasingly targeted Israel itself with drones and missiles, resulting in retaliatory Israeli airstrikes.

CORRECTS YEAR TO 2024 - The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG 64) steams in the Mediterranean Sea, Dec. 15, 2024. (Kaitlin Young/U.S. Navy via AP)

The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG 64) steams in the Mediterranean Sea, Dec. 15, 2025. (Kaitlin Young/U.S. Navy via AP)

FILE - Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is moored near Split, Croatia, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic, File)

FILE - A fighter jet maneuvers on the deck of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Red Sea, June 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)