In Syria the main Islamist rebel leader has said the country's new government will pursue officials from President Assad's regime who oversaw torture and war crimes and offer rewards for information about those involved.

Well rebel fighters say that they found more than 40 bodies showing signs of torture at a hospital near Damascus.

So we're monitoring the scene live in the capital where we are expecting banks to reopen and also public transport services to resume today and work continues to build a transitional government.

The rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Jilani has named an interim Prime Minister and also a small cabinet so that public services can resume.

Arundhat Iyengar begins our coverage.

Scenes of joy as Syrians pour into the capital Damascus for a second day.

Women, children and families joined with rebel soldiers to celebrate freedom from the regime of former President Bashir al-Assad.

Syrian communities around the world are celebrating.

These were the ecstatic crowds in London.

Now we should be able to go back home, see our families, visit the graves of our loved ones which were murdered by Assad and his gang.

Back in Damascus stories of horror are not hard to find.

This man is 45.

He has no teeth.

He says Bashir al-Assad soldiers broke them because he belonged to a rebel militia.

They also cut off parts of his tongue and gave him mice to eat in prison.

The Zednaya prison has become a symbol of the atrocities committed by Syria's former government.

Desperate relatives have been heading there, seeking loved ones, some of whom disappeared years ago.

Thousands of opposition supporters are believed to have been tortured and killed here.

Just days ago rebels freed thousands of prisoners here.

Hayat Tafir al-Sham fighters are seen as heroes for liberating these people.

But can a group that has a jihadist past deliver the democratic rule that many here want?

This woman says they are from our country.

They are not Islamic State.

We are not afraid of them.

Syria's stability depends for now on the man wearing military clothing, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the leader of Hayat Tafir al-Sham.

Here he was meeting the interim prime minister to discuss the way forward.

He succeeded in uniting rebel groups and capturing the whole country in under two weeks.

He said rewards will be given for information on Assad officials involved in war crimes.

Meanwhile, these Syrian refugees in Turkey are facing the dilemma of whether to return home to Syria.

Like Germany, like France and like other countries, we have paused asylum decisions on cases from Syria while the Home Office reviews and monitors the current situation.

What will Syrian refugees return to and how can those living in the country deal with the demons of its past?

Aruna Iyengar, BBC News.

Let's pick up on some of those questions in Aruna's report there with Nicholas Hopton, former British ambassador to Iran between 2016 and 2018.

Now, sir, you're the director general of the Middle East Association and of course you were previously ambassador also to Qatar, Yemen, Libya, so you know this region so very, very well.

When it comes to the Assad regime, we're seeing proof of how brutal it was.

Is it accurate to describe the regime as something like a mafia film, like something like The Godfather?

Good morning, Katia.

I think it's hard to overstate the brutal dictatorship that the Assad family have exerted in Syria for over half a century and clearly from your report the impact on the ordinary people of Syria has been appalling and what we're hearing about the release of political prisoners in the last few days since the taking of Damascus by the rebel opposition forces confirms all of that.

Calling them a mafia group would probably be too understated.

Understated.

We get the impression there that you agree then that it was just such a terribly difficult time for the people of this country, but just going forward now, what happens next?

What's your understanding?

Because of course Assad was a supporter of the Palestinians, he was a supporter of Hezbollah.

Did he have a stabilising effect in this region, whether it was to the detriment of the Syrian people?

Well, the Assad rule was certainly to the detriment of the Syrian people and in a complete absence of democracy and human rights in the country.

I think there was a degree of stability brought by having a dictator who had control of a large part of the country with strong support from foreign allies such as Russia and Iran and I think what we're seeing now is a very fluid situation where the rebel forces are trying to stabilise and take control in the territory in Damascus that they've taken, but also we're seeing reports of other developments such as Israel taking territory in the south to secure their own borders.

So it's a very fluid situation.

What Iran and Russia decide to do next is also of course of great importance.

What, from your experience previously as ambassador to Iran, what do you think Iran will want to do?

Because there are hints of talks on a deal with Donald Trump once he takes office.

Is that something that they will be inclined to do in order to get a grip on this situation?

Well, what's happened in Syria has been a great humiliation for the Islamic regime in Tehran.

Assad was one of their greatest allies and assets in a way because he allowed them to supply their forward proxies on the border with Israel, particularly Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Now that supply route has been cut with the ceasefire in Lebanon just over a week ago.

That has left Hezbollah in a very uncertain situation, unable probably to be able to rebuild themselves anytime soon.

And that, of course, is a blow to the longstanding Iranian approach of putting pressure on their enemies through what they call forward defence.

Now, at the same time, back in Tehran, the IRGC and the hardline claim that this has not been a blow.

They're looking as a regime, I think, to do, under the Supreme Leader's guidance, they've decided this is a time for engaging diplomatically while preparing for the worst case scenario if Donald Trump were to resume maximum pressure or even ultimate pressure, as some are calling it, on Iran and its economy once he takes power at the beginning of the Thank you very much for talking us through this fluid, as you say, situation.

Appreciate your expertise.