Syria has begun circulating new currency bills, a year after Bashar Assad's government fell. Central Bank Governor Mokhles Nazer said Saturday that the exchange of old Syrian pounds with new banknotes has officially started.

U.S.-mediated talks between Syria and Israel have resumed after an interruption of several months, Syria's state news agency SANA reported on Monday, with Damascus seeking withdrawal of Israeli troops from territory seized after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

“If Syria fails to integrate all armed forces and former opposition groups into its army, it faces an existential challenge of fragmentation and disintegration,” Caroline Rose, director of military and national security priorities at the New Lines Institute, told Al Jazeera.

Britain’s and France’s air forces conducted a joint operation on Saturday evening to bomb a suspected underground arms cache previously used by the Islamic State group in Syria, Britain’s defence ministry said.

Images shared by Syria's state-run news agency showed blood on carpets, holes in the walls, shattered windows and fire damage.

At least four people have been killed and dozens wounded in clashes on Syria’s coast in the aftermath of the deadly bombing of an Alawite mosque.

The killings by government-affiliated forces left nearly 1,500 Alawites dead and led tens of thousands to flee out of fear for their lives. It broke the fragile relationship between Alawites, the sect from which Assad hailed, and the ​new government.