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Agence France-Presse

Governments worldwide are stepping up efforts to engage with Syria’s new interim rulers, just over a week after Islamist-led rebels ousted president Bashar al-Assad, ending decades of brutal rule and civil war.
The lightning offensive that captured the capital Damascus on December 8 led to celebrations across the country and beyond.
But the surprise ouster caught many governments by surprise, and has left them scrambling for a new policy.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist group that led the offensive, is rooted in al-Qaeda’s Syrian branch, and is still designated a terrorist group by several Western governments.

Diplomats, including UN envoy Geir Pedersen who was in Syria on Sunday, have urged an inclusive new administration focused on nation-building and justice.
Pedersen met with HTS chief Ahmed al-Sharaa – previously known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani – and called for “justice and accountability for crimes”.
“We need to make sure that that goes through a credible justice system, and that we don’t see any revenge,” he said.
A Qatari delegation also landed in Syria on Sunday to meet transitional government officials and pledge “full commitment to supporting the Syrian people”.
Qatar’s embassy is set to resume operations Tuesday, 13 years after it closed in the early stages of an anti-government uprising that sparked years of civil war.
Unlike other Arab countries, Qatar never restored ties with Assad’s Syria.

It comes after Turkey, a key backer of some of the rebel groups that ousted Assad, reopened its embassy in Damascus on Saturday.
Both Britain and the United States also confirmed they were in touch with HTS despite officially considering the organisation a terrorist group.
“We can have diplomatic contact and so we do have diplomatic contact,” British Foreign Minister David Lammy said as he announced an aid package for Syrians.
A French diplomatic team is also due in Damascus on Tuesday to “retake possession of our real estate” and make “initial contact” with the new authorities, said acting Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot.
They will also be “evaluating the urgent needs of the population”, he added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meanwhile said his country was coordinating on providing aid including wheat, flour and oil to Syria.

Rebels entered Damascus after an 11-day offensive that came over a decade into the civil war sparked by Assad’s violent crackdown on anti-government protests which erupted in 2011.
The war has killed upwards of 500,000 people and displaced more than half the country’s population.
Assad’s departure has seens notorious jails thrown open and prisoners recount the abuses they suffered.
“Towards the end I just wanted to die, waiting for when they would execute us,” Ghazi Mohammed al-Mohammed told Agence France-Presse of his five months in detention.
He was never told why he was arrested, but said he faced torture and death threats in detention.
A cautious sense of calm is returning to many cities, with children in Damascus streaming back to school on Sunday – the first day of the week in Syria – for the first time since Assad fled.

Damascus’s interim governor acknowledged that major obstacles lay ahead.
“The challenges we are facing right now are the massive destruction of the institutional structure in terms of human resources, local economy, and the social structure,” said Maher Marwan.
“This is a reality that requires great effort and awareness, in addition to solidarity by everyone at this phase.”
UN envoy Pedersen called for “increased, immediate” aid during his Damascus visit.
Turkey was ready to provide military support to the new Islamist-led government, Defence Minister Yasar Guler said Sunday, Turkish media reported.
The new leadership should be given “a chance”, he added.




HTS has sought to moderate its rhetoric in recent years, but its seizure of power has sparked some concern over the protection of religious and ethnic minorities.
Syrian Christians attending their first Sunday church service since Assad’s fall said they were largely reassured so far.
“Thank God, our situation is good,” said Ibtissam al-Khouli at a Damascus church.
“Everyone feels comfortable, there’s no fear,” she said.
The interim government insists they will protect the rights of all Syrians, and the rule of law.
Assad was propped up by key allies including Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, Iran, and Russia, whose foreign ministry said Sunday it had evacuated some diplomatic staff from Syria.

They left “by a special flight of the Russian Air Force from the Hmeimim airbase,” the ministry said.
In addition to the Russian embassy staff, employees of the diplomatic missions of North Korea and Belarus, as well as personnel from the mission of the unrecognised breakaway republic of Abkhazia, were also evacuated.
However, the Russian embassy in Damascus is not closed and continues its work, the foreign ministry in Moscow stressed. No reason was given for the partial evacuation.
After his ousting, Assad was granted asylum in Russia.
Moscow is currently trying to negotiate with the new rulers in Syria regarding the continued use of the Hmeimim military airport and the naval base in Tartus.
The rebel advance began on November 27, as a ceasefire took effect in the Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon, which battered the militant group.
Both Israel and Turkey have carried out military strikes inside Syria since Assad’s fall.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted his country has “no interest in confronting Syria”, despite carrying out hundreds of strikes over the past week.
“Israel’s policy toward Syria will be determined by the evolving reality on the ground,” he said in a video statement.
Those strikes continued early Monday, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor reporting raids on military sites in the country’s coastal Tartus region.
The UK-based monitor, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, said the raids were “the heaviest strikes” in the area in more than a decade.
Israel has also ordered troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, a move denounced by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and which the UN said violated a 1974 armistice.
And Israel’s government on Sunday approved a plan to double the population in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.
Additional reporting by dpa


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Middle East

Damascus University students pull a toppled statue of the late Syria’s President Hafez al-Assad, father of Bashar al-Assad. Photo: Reuters

A man in Damascus holds a flag adopted by Syria’s new rulers. Photo: Reuters

Turkey’s embassy in Damascus. Photo: AFP

A Syrian rebel fighter fires towards a poster at the entrance of a detention centre in Damascus. Photo: AP

The presidential palace in Damascus. Photo: Reuters

A Russian soldier rides on an infantry fighting vehicle, part of a Russian military convoy heading towards Hmeimim airbase. Photo: Reuters

Turkey will offer military training to Syria if new administration requests

Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler. Photo: Reuters

Protesters wave flags of YPG (People’s Protection Units) in front of the EU Parliament in Brussels. Photo: AFP

Kurdish-led fighters backed by the US prepare for battle against Isis militants, in Raqqa in 2017. Photo: AP

HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani meeting with UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen: Photo: Syrian Interim Government via AFP 

An undated personal photo of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with an unidentified woman. Photo: X via AP 

A man shows old pictures of the late Syrian President Hafez Assad in a ransacked private residence in Damascus. Photo: AP

An undated personal photo of Bashar al-Assad, second from left, with a group of people in an unknown location. Photo: X via AP 

Displaced families collect aid provided by the United Nations at a refugee camp in the town of Al-Bardaqli, northern Syria. On Sunday, the UK said it would release US$63 million in aid for the ‘most vulnerable’ Syrians and for those in need in neighbouring Lebanon and Jordan. Photo: EPA-EFE

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy. Photo: dpa

Russia aims to secure deal with new Syria leaders to keep vital military bases

Russian aircraft, helicopters and military equipment at Khmeimim airbase, near Latakia, Syria. Photo: Maxar Technologies via Reuters

Satellite images show Russia’s Tartus naval base on December 5 (top) and the same location (bottom) after ships departed on December 10. Photo: Maxar Technologies via AFP

Submarines at Russia’s Tartus naval base in 2019. File photo: AFP 

News

World

Qatar and Turkey reopen embassies and Western powers engage with rebel group as Russia withdraws some diplomatic staff


Qatar and Turkey reopen embassies and Western powers engage with rebel group as Russia withdraws some diplomatic staff.
