The new Syrian interim government is advancing in the reconstruction of institutions while countries and international organizations recognize it as an interlocutor. The latest measure was announced by Ahmed Sharaa, the leader of Hayat Tahrir El Sham (HTS), the main rebel group that toppled Bashar al-Assad’s regime in a lightning offensive a week and a half ago. Sharaa – his real name, which he has begun to use after using Abu Mohamed Al Julani for decades – has announced on his Telegram social network channel that the different rebel factions that joined together for the offensive, launched from the province of Idlib , in the northwest, “will be dismantled” and its combatants “trained to join the ranks of the Ministry of Defense.” “Everyone will be subject to the law,” he added after a meeting with the Druze minority.
“We must have a State mentality, not an opposition mentality,” Al Julani pointed out, in full effort to scare away the fears of the communities that supported El Assad or who distrust him due to his past as an Islamic fundamentalist who comes from the Syrian branch. of Al Qaeda. “Syria must remain united and there must be a social contract between the State and all communities [étnicas o religiosas] to guarantee social justice.”
Al Julani had already said that he would end mandatory military conscription, a nightmare for Syrians inside the country and for refugees considering returning. It could last up to 10 years and the possibility of avoiding enlistment involved paying thousands of dollars.
Security is a key issue. The police on the streets basically consist of the agents of the Salvation Government in Idlib (you can see it in their armbands and pants) or rebel fighters who have taken over the function, controlling access to official buildings or establishing checkpoints on the roads.
The topic of weapons frequently appears in conversations. The uncertainty about who took them from barracks – or directly from the streets and highways, abandoned by soldiers who fled or surrendered – in the first 48 hours after the fall of a dictatorial system that has been alive for half a century.
For this reason, Al Julani has insisted that the authorities will be in charge of disarming the population so that the army has a monopoly on its use. Some residents in Damascus and surrounding areas say that they have already received instructions in this regard. Success will depend on minorities (still afraid, despite clear guarantees from HTS) seeing it as a necessary measure to avoid chaos and centralize power, and not as a lack of protection in the face of an uncertain future.
The announcement of the formation of an army has a legal dimension, facilitating diplomatic contacts and the lifting of sanctions. HTS is on the list of terrorist organizations of the United States and the European Union. In fact, on paper, Washington offers $10 million for any information on Al Julani.
However, reality is already moving in another direction. The new head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, assured this Tuesday that the Union will fully reopen its delegation in Syria (without an ambassador since 2013) and that its head will meet in Damascus with the new leaders. The US and Germany have also made contacts with the new Syrian authorities; and the flags of France, Turkey and Qatar are now flying again at the Embassies in Damascus, which closed at the beginning of a conflict that ended up lasting almost 14 years and leaving at least half a million dead and more than ten million displaced and refugees. (half of the population). The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, estimated this Tuesday that one million refugees will return to their country in the next six months and has asked host states not to pressure them to do so.
The message from the new Government is that the priority, now, is to rebuild a ruined country with endemic corruption after the bloody civil war. Al Julani has admitted, for example, that he will not start a confrontation with Israel over the part of the demilitarized zone in Syria that it has taken advantage of to occupy or over its daily bombings, despite considering that he no longer has an excuse to carry them out, because Iran and Hezbollah ( who had come to support Assad at the beginning of the war) have fled the country with the fall of the regime.
