Syrian insurgent chief dismisses controversy over photograph with girl

Syrian insurgent chief Ahmed al-Sharaa has dismissed on-line controversy over movies exhibiting him motioning for a younger girl to cowl her hair earlier than posing for a photograph together with her final week.

The incident sparked criticism from liberal and conservative commentators, amid intense hypothesis concerning the future course of the county after the rebels got here to energy.

Liberals noticed the request by the chief of the Sunni Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) as an indication that he might search to impose an Islamic system in Syria after main the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, whereas conservatives Radicals criticized him for consenting to be photographed with the lady within the first place.

“I did not drive it. But it surely’s my private freedom. I need the pictures to be taken for me in the way in which that fits me”, Sharaa said in an interview with BBC’s Jeremy Bowen.

The girl, Léa Kheirallah, additionally stated that this request didn’t trouble her.

She stated he requested “in a delicate, fatherly method,” and that she believed “the chief has the precise to be offered as he sees match.”

Nonetheless, the incident demonstrated a few of the difficulties any future Syrian chief might need in interesting to and uniting such a religiously various nation.

Sunni Muslims make up the vast majority of the inhabitants, with the rest break up between Christians, Alawites, Druze and Ismailis.

There’s additionally a variety of views among the many totally different political and armed teams against Assad, with some wanting secular democracy and others wanting governance per Islamic regulation.

HTS, a former al-Qaeda affiliate, initially imposed strict guidelines on conduct and gown when it took management of the previous insurgent stronghold of Idlib province in 2017. Nonetheless, it revoked these guidelines lately in response to public criticism.

The Quran, the holy e book of Islam, tells Muslims – women and men – to decorate modestly.

Male modesty has been interpreted as overlaying the realm from the navel to the knee – and for girls it’s typically thought-about to cowl all the things besides their face, fingers and toes when within the presence of males with whom they don’t usually are not associated or married.

Lea Kheirallah requested to take a photograph with Sharaa – who was beforehand recognized by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani – throughout his go to to the Mezzeh neighborhood of Damascus on December 10.

Before agreeing, Sharaa gestured for her to cover her hair and she obeyed.lifting the hood of his sweater then standing subsequent to him for the photograph.

Quite a few video clips and pictures of the incident have been shared on social media, sparking widespread outrage amongst bizarre customers and media commentators.

Individuals with liberal or non-conservative views noticed it as a troubling glimpse of Syria’s attainable future beneath HTS rule, fearing more and more conservative insurance policies, reminiscent of requiring all ladies to put on a hijab or a shawl.

The Arabic channel France 24 reported on the incident, with a headline asking whether or not Syria was “transferring in the direction of an Islamic regime”.

Others have been harsher of their condemnation. A Syrian journalist stated: “We have now changed a dictator with a reactionary dictator. »

On social media, different commentators warned in opposition to “ultra-extremists” coming to energy, whereas others denounced “forcing a free girl” to undertake a conservative look.

Radical Islamists on Telegram criticized Sharaa for agreeing to be filmed and photographed subsequent to a younger girl.

Some have known as Ms Kheirallah a “mutabarijah” – a damaging time period for girls seen as immodestly dressed or made up.

These radical figures vary from clerics to influential commentators whose opinions are sometimes shared and skim on-line by conservative Syria-centered communities, and are more likely to attain out to HTS supporters and presumably officers.

Most of them look like primarily based in Syria, primarily within the former HTS-dominated insurgent stronghold of Idlib, with some having beforehand served in HTS ranks.

They argued that unrelated women and men have been religiously prohibited from interacting intently and accused Sharaa of looking for “useless public consideration” and exhibiting “leniency” in conflicting questions. to strict spiritual teachings.

A message on a Telegram channel known as Min Idlib (From Idlib) stated the HTS chief was “too busy taking selfies with younger ladies” to reply to calls for for the discharge of prisoners from HTS prisons in Idlib.

Many conservative figures who’ve spoken out in opposition to the photograph have criticized Sharaa up to now on political and spiritual grounds, and embody clerics who’ve left HTS.