Syria live updates: Blinken says US made direct contact with rebel group HTS

The U.S. has a clearer understanding of former Syrian President Bashar Assad's final moments in power and escape to Russia, a U.S. official told ABC News.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is believed to have been closely involved in orchestrating Assad’s escape and likely played a key role in convincing Assad to flee, according to the official.

Although Assad reportedly assured members of his inner circle that Russia and Iran would send in reinforcements before allowing the regime to fall, both Moscow and Tehran communicated to Assad that they were unwilling or unable to ramp up their support, the official said.

The U.S. assesses that Assad’s final decision was very sudden—and that he left in a plane with a disabled transponder, allowing him to escape undetected, the official said.

-ABC News' Shannon Kingston

The Turkish government will open its embassy in Damascus on Saturday, the country's foreign minister Hakan Fidan said.

Fidan said Turkey "paved the way for this to happen in a bloodless manner" by continuing to pursue talks with "two key actors," referring to Russia and Iran.

He underlined that Syria now has a "sovereign national government" capable of reclaiming its territory, adding that this government would not recognize the authority of either the PKK/YPG terror group, nor "any other power" on its soil.

-ABC News' Will Gretsky

Israel has continued strikes on Syria, targeting sites in Damascus and Sweida, according to the Syria Observatory for Human Rights.

"The Israeli warplanes resumed their airstrikes, with new airstrikes targeting missiles at the summit of Mount Qasioun in Damascus, Khalkhala Airport in the countryside of Sweida, and the Defense and Research Laboratories in Masyaf in the western countryside of Hama, without any information about human losses so far," SOHR said in a statement.

"The raids came after similar raids that targeted 6 military sites in the Damascus and Sweida countrysides," SOHR said.

Following a meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the countries' shared priorities, including "the opportunity that now is before us and before the Syrian people to move out from under the shackles of Bashar al-Assad to a different and better future."

He emphasized the "growing consensus" among regional partners in their continued commitment to support the Syrian people.

Blinken said he sees a "broad agreement" on what what Turkey and the United States would like to see unfold in Syria, including the actions of an "interim" government.

It would be a government "that is inclusive and nonsectarian, one that protects the rights of minorities and women, one that preserves institutions of the state and delivers services to the people, one that deals with any chemical weapons it may find to secure them and appropriately destroy them, one that rejects any alliances with extremist groups, and, of course, one that does not pose any kind of threat to any of Syria's neighbors," he said.

Following his meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, the secretary also said that one of their shared imperatives was "continuing efforts to keep ISIS down."

"Our countries worked very hard and gave a lot over many years to ensure the elimination of the territorial caliphate of ISIS to ensure that that threat doesn't rear its head again. And it's imperative that we keep at, keep at those efforts," he said.

Blinken provided a hopeful outlook on the hostage situation in Gaza, saying that in recent weeks, there have been "more encouraging signs" to bring the hostages home.

"We discussed Gaza and we discussed … the opportunity to finally try to complete the hostage cease fire agreement to get the hostages home, to get a cease fire in place, and what we've seen in the last couple of weeks are more encouraging signs that that is possible," he said, emphasizing the importance of reaching an agreement with Hamas.

-ABC News' Emily Chang and Lauren Minore