Bashar al-Assad was an ally of both Iran and Russia, Beijing's key partners. Here is how his fall is being seen in China.

China has raised serious concerns about the ongoing conflict in Syria, focusing on the potential dangers posed by terrorist groups and their activities. Syria’s new government received a significant warning about the dangers of supporting terrorism,

China’s leadership is not happy about the fall of Assad. But compared to Russia and Iran, Beijing had far less at stake.

"The future of Syria should be decided by the Syrian people," Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu told Newsweek.

With a new administration in Damascus, China is revaluating its relationship with Syria and increasingly focused on rise of Islamists' threats.

A top Chinese envoy has warned Damascus's new government not to support terrorism as a Syria-based Islamic militant group sent messages to Muslims in China's Xinjiang region, urging them to wage attacks.

Despite the rhetoric about a global war against Islamist terrorism, the US has long utilised reactionary Islamist groups in the Middle East and Asia. Al-Qaeda was created by the CIA and Pakistani intelligence,

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has called for international efforts to prevent Syria from descending into further division and another refugee crisis, responding on Friday for the first time to the sudden collapse of Bashar al-Assad's Beijing-friendly regime last week.

The TIP has been based in Syria for more than a decade, with its members fleeing to the Middle East to escape China’s severe oppression of the Uyghurs, a largely Muslim minority group. Its fighters joined Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist group that led the rebel offensive, in a thrust out of the north-west of Syria.

China's foreign ministry on Monday called for a "political solution" to be found in Syria as soon as possible to restore stability and order, after rebels seized the Syrian capital over the weekend and its president fled to Russia.

Facing the loss of its sole Arab ally and much of its sphere of influence, Tehran might seek to capitalize on the opening initiated by China to mend ties with the Arab states.