Donald Trump’s pick to oversee 18 intelligence agencies with a $100 billion spy budget is facing renewed scrutiny over an unannounced trip to Syria in 2017 where she met with the now-deposed dictator twice.

Weeping, Fairuz Shalish grasps the red earth at an unmarked grave in Syria that she believes may hold her son, one of tens of thousands of people who vanished under ousted president Bashar al-Assad.Thousands poured out of the country's web of prisons in the final days of Assad's rule and after Islamist-led rebels toppled him on December 8.

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani will visit Damascus on Thursday, Qatar's Al Jazeera reported, as Syria's new interim government begins a political transition after Islamist rebels ousted the Assad regime last year.

Syrian leader al-Sharaa reportedly also demands reparations as Moscow delegation seeks to secure strategic power bases.

Tulsi Gabbard, President Trump's nominee to serve as the director of national intelligence, will testify Thursday morning at a confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee. The 43-year-old former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii and combat veteran would oversee the nation's 18 spy agencies.

Russia deployed troops to Syria in 2015 to support Assad regime's brutal crackdown against anti-government forces.

Sharaa, who took the helm after Bashar al-Assad's ouster last month, has been appointed interim president and tasked with forming a transitional legislature, state media reported.A rebel alliance led by Sharaa's Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ousted Assad on December 8 after a lightning offensive,

Sharaa, was declared head of state for a transitional phase and empowered to form a new legislative council on Wednesday, in an announcement by the armed groups that toppled Bashar al-Assad. Syria's constitution was also suspended and the existing parliament dissolved,

Sharaa, former rebel leader turned Syria's interim president, promises tolerance and unity after toppling Assad.

The summer home of ousted leader Bashar al-Assad was once off-limits to ordinary Syrians. Now people are lining up to visit and wandering around the rooms — which are empty after being looted.

Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa was declared president for a transitional phase on Wednesday, tightening his hold on power