Bones are visible here and there among the mounds of earth in a field south of Damascus, one of the mass graves around Syria believed to hold the bodies of tens of thousands of people killed under Bashar Assad's rule. With his ouster, residents, forensic teams and international groups face what could be a yearslong task of unearthing the dead.

In this site alone, by the town of Najha, several tens of thousands of bodies could have been buried, said Stephen Rapp, a former U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues who was visiting the site Tuesday. Some are believed buried under already existing graves of a regular cemetery nearby, he said.

High in the mountains of the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, the town of Majdal Shams is home to members of one of the Middle East's most insular religious minorities: the Druze.

With its roots in 10th century Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam, the roughly 1 million-strong minority is spread across Syria, Lebanon, Israel and the Golan Heights.

Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, entered Syrian territory Tuesday and said Israeli troops would remain in the area indefinitely, blurring the border with its northern neighbor.

Since its establishment in 1948, Israel has never had fully recognized borders. Throughout its history, the frontiers with its Arab neighbors have shifted as a result of wars, annexations, ceasefires and peace agreements.

The UN Security Council has called for an "inclusive and Syrian-led" political process to be implemented after Bashar al-Assad's ouster.

The Council issued its first statement on new Syria, calling for a Syrian-led political process leading to elections and urging all nations to respect the country’s sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israeli forces will stay in a buffer zone on the Syrian border, seized after the ouster of Syria's President Bashar Assad, until another arrangement is in place "that ensures Israel's security."

Netanyahu made the comments Tuesday from the summit of Mount Hermon — the highest peak in the area — inside Syria, about 10 kilometers from the border with the Israel-held Golan Heights.

International Organization for Migration chief Amy Pope said Tuesday the U.N. agency was not advising the large-scale return of people to Syria before the situation in the country has stabilized.

"People have the right to return home... but we are not advising any sort of large-scale return... the system can’t bear that kind of influx," Pope told AFP during a visit to Lebanon, adding that "absent an investment in Syria itself... sending people back will only destabilize the country further and will likely create pressures for people to migrate out again".

The leader of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces on Tuesday proposed a "demilitarized zone" in the northern town of Kobane as fighting with Turkish-backed groups grips northern Syria.

"Reaffirming our firm commitment to achieving a comprehensive ceasefire across all of Syria, we announce our readiness to propose the establishment of a demilitarized zone in the city of Kobane, with the redeployment of security forces under American supervision and presence," Mazloum Abdi wrote on X.

Hamas said talks in Qatar on Tuesday aimed at a truce and hostage-prisoner exchange in Gaza were "serious and positive", a day after an Israeli delegation arrived in Doha to meet with mediators.

"Hamas affirms that, in light of the serious and positive discussions taking place today in Doha under the auspices of our Qatari and Egyptian brothers, reaching an agreement for a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange is possible if the occupation ceases to impose new conditions," the Palestinian Islamist group said in a statement.

The U.S. military on Tuesday said it bombed a Houthi military facility in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, the latest U.S.-led attack on the Iranian-backed rebels.

The Houthi media office said the strike hit part of the sprawling complex that houses the rebels’ Defense Ministry. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

A U.S.-backed force in Syria says U.S.-led mediation efforts have failed to reach a permanent truce in Syria's north between the force's fighters and Turkish-backed gunmen.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said the failure to end the fighting in the northern areas of Manbij and Kobani were unsuccessful due to Turkey’s unwillingness to accept key points.