DAMASCUS, Syria -- DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria started the process of circulating new currency bills on Saturday as the crisis-hit nation seeks to stabilize the economy as it recovers from the fall of Bashar Assad’s government.

Syria and Israel have agreed to set up a joint mechanism after US-mediated talks in Paris on Tuesday, in what they are calling a “dedicated communication cell” aimed at sharing intelligence and coordinating military de-escalation.

Despite its defeat in Syria in 2019, IS' sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks in Syria and Iraq, where the extremists once declared their caliphate.

A Syrian source close to President Ahmed al-Shara says Damascus is open to a U.S.-backed security initiative with Israel, including a joint coordination mechanism

Suwayda has become a de facto autonomous zone after the failure of government forces backed by Sunni tribal fighters to impose control in July. Al-Hijri openly appealed to Israel, whose intervention forced Damascus to retreat.

An explosion tore through a mosque in the Syrian city of Homs Dec. 26, killing and wounding worshippers in a neighborhood associated with the country’s Alawite Muslim community. Syrian authorities said an investigation was underway;

There is no longer any space in which reasonable people can argue that Syria’s current leadership has not become a US-aligned force that seeks further cooperation with the Israelis.

Syria’s government declared Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh a closed military zone as fighting with SDF escalated, with civilian deaths reported and mass evacuations underway.