SYRIA’S NEW INTERIM prime minister pledged to protect minority rights as Washington’s top diplomat flew to the region on Thursday to urge an “inclusive” transition, following the ousting of president Bashar al-Assad.
Assad fled Syria after a lightning offensive spearheaded by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group and its allies, which brought an end to five decades of brutal rule by the Assad clan.
Syrians across the country and around the world erupted in celebration after enduring decades during which suspected dissidents were jailed or killed, and nearly 14 years of war that killed 500,000 people and displaced millions.
The joy sparked by Assad’s overthrow has been accompanied by uncertainty about the future of the multi-ethnic, multi-confessional country. Its new rulers have sought to reassure minorities they will be protected.
Sunni Muslim HTS is rooted in Syria’s branch of Al-Qaeda and is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by many Western governments, though it has sought to moderate its rhetoric.
“Precisely because we are Islamic, we will guarantee the rights of all people and all sects in Syria,” Mohammad al-Bashir, the transitional head of government, told Italian daily Corriere della Sera in an interview on Wednesday.
The new rulers have also pledged justice for the victims of Assad’s iron-fisted rule, with HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani vowing that officials involved in torturing detainees will not be pardoned.
Jolani, now using his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, also urged “countries to hand over any of those criminals who may have fled so they can be brought to justice”.
Top US diplomat Antony Blinken is due to arrive Thursday in Jordan, his first stop on a regional tour that will see him offer US support for “an inclusive, Syrian-led transition to an accountable and representative government,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
The Biden administration said on Tuesday it will recognise and support a new Syrian government that renounces terrorism, destroys chemical weapons stocks and protects the rights of minorities and women.
Blinken said in a statement that the US would work with groups in Syria and regional partners to ensure that the transition from Bashar Assad’s deposed government runs smoothly.
He was not specific about which groups the US would work with, but the State Department has not ruled out talks with the main Syrian rebel group despite its designation as a terrorist organisation.
He will call for Syria to avoid becoming a “base of terrorism” or “posing a threat to its neighbours” — a nod to the concerns of Turkey and Israel, both of which have carried out strikes inside Syria since Assad’s fall.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor reported fresh Israeli strikes on sites belonging to Assad’s military in coastal Latakia and Tartus provinces, and said Turkish drones targeted Syrian government military sites near Qamishli, in the Kurdish-controlled far northeast.
Some Western governments have also cautioned against military action by foreign powers.
Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Syrian “neighbours such as the Turkish and Israeli governments, which are asserting their security interests, must not jeopardise” the transition of power.
France called on Israel to withdraw troops from the buffer zone separating the annexed Golan Heights from Syrian territory, and Spain urged respect for Syria’s “territorial integrity”.
Assad had faced down protests and an armed rebellion for more than a decade before his fall.
The rebels launched their offensive on November 27, the same day that a ceasefire took effect in the Israel-Hezbollah war, which saw Israel inflict staggering losses on the ranks of Assad’s Lebanese ally.
Qatar, which has backed Assad’s opponents, said Wednesday it would reopen its embassy in Damascus “soon”.
Ahead of a G7 meeting Friday at which leaders will weigh whether to support HTS, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called Assad’s departure a “turning point for Syria”.
“In the past, we’ve always thought what comes next is necessarily better. That hasn’t turned out to be the case,” he cautioned.
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