Diary of the Syrian Transition - December 17, 2024, Night Update

Highlight: France and Germany meet HTS's Ahmad al-Shar'a today

Hello all! I’ve been meaning to do a rolling update of happenings every day since the HTS-led offensive began, but must admit I have been quite busy. Hoping to try and do this at least once or twice a day. Apologies ahead of time if I miss any updates. I also plan to try and back date some content when I have the time too. This will primarily be a combination of news and primary sources for the historical record so we can see how things evolve over time.