SYRIA  -  The leader of the main Islamist rebel group in Syria has met the former prime minister to co-ordinate the transfer of power. Footage released by the rebel’s military operations command shows Abu Mohammed al-Jolani saying the transition would benefit from the experience of the old government.

“The young men have gained a lot of experience,” al-Jolani says. “They started working from nothing.

“Idlib is small and has no resources, but thank God, we were able to achieve something big during the past period. You will see experience, it’s not zero. In certain areas, they had varying high levels of success.

“However, we will not dispense the old status, it is essential that we take advantage of its existence.”

Turkey will open its Yayladagi border gate with Syria to allow for the safe and “voluntary return” of Syrian migrants, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday.

Turkey, which currently hosts 2.9 million Syrian refugees according to Erdogan, would continue to support Syria’s efforts to rebuild, the president said in a speech after a cabinet meeting.

“Our Syrian brothers and sisters have been longing for their homelands for the last 13 years, and I certainly believe that this longing is coming to an end,” Erdogan said.

The president added Turkey would “work day and night” to ensure Syria reaches “permanent peace and stability.”

The forces that have taken control of Damascus after the collapse of the Assad regime have issued a general amnesty for conscripted soldiers in the Syrian military.

In a statement on Monday, the Military Operations Command announced “a general amnesty for all conscripted soldiers serving under mandatory service. They are granted safety for their lives, and any harm against them is strictly prohibited.” The amnesty does not apply to officers and soldiers who volunteered to serve.

After Syrian rebels toppled the Assad regime over the weekend, following more than five decades of brutal dictatorship, on Monday both Germany and Austria paused asylum applications for Syrians.

Austria is with immediate effect halting ongoing asylum procedures for Syrians living in the country, the interior ministry in Vienna said. The ministry also said it was starting to look at deporting people back to Syria.

“I have instructed the ministry to prepare an orderly repatriation and deportation program to Syria,” Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said. Family reunions have also been suspended, the ministry said.

Roughly 95,000 Syrians live in Austria, according to the ministry. So far this year, almost 13,000 asylum requests have been lodged.

Meanwhile, neighboring Germany is to freeze asylum procedures for Syrians for now, according to its interior minister.

“The situation in Syria is currently very unclear,” Nancy Faeser said in a statement. This means “it is not yet possible to predict specific return options and it would be dubious to speculate on this in such a volatile situation,” she added.