Ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad says he had no plans to leave the country after the fall of Damascus a week ago but the Russian military evacuated him after their base in western Syria came under attack.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has wrapped up perhaps his last Middle East mission as America’s top diplomat.

The U.S. military has brought an American who was imprisoned in Syria for seven months out of the country.

An American who disappeared seven months ago into former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s notorious prison system says he was released by the “liberators” who arrived in Damascus a day after the longtime ruler fled the capital.