After Assad’s ouster, Syrian insurgent chief places his stamp on state By Reuters

By Timour Azhari, Maya Gebeily and Tom Perry

DAMASCUS/BEIRUT (Reuters) – Insurgent chief Ahmad al-Sharaa’s Islamist group is imposing its authority on the Syrian state with the identical lightning velocity it seized the nation, deploying police, by putting in an interim authorities and assembly overseas envoys – elevating issues about its inclusiveness. The brand new leaders in Damascus intend to take action.

Since Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group toppled Bashar al-Assad on the head of a insurgent alliance on Sunday, its bureaucrats – who till final week ran an Islamist administration in a distant nook of the north -western Syria – moved to the seat of presidency in Damascus.

The appointment of Mohammed al-Bashir, head of the HTS’s Idlib enclave regional authorities, as Syria’s interim prime minister on Monday underlined the group’s standing as essentially the most highly effective of the armed teams which have fought for greater than 13 years to finish Assad’s rule with an iron fist.

Though it was a part of al-Qaeda earlier than breaking its ties in 2016, HTS reassured tribal leaders, native officers and extraordinary Syrians throughout its march towards Damascus that it will shield minority religions, thus acquiring extensive approval. This message helped facilitate the rebels’ advance and Sharaa – higher generally known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani – has been repeating it since Assad’s ouster.

Within the Damascus governor’s workplace, with partitions exquisitely embellished with marquetry and stained glass, the person introduced from Idlib to run affairs dismissed issues that Syria was transferring towards an Islamic type of authorities .

“Islamic governance doesn’t exist. In any case, we’re Muslims and these are civil establishments or ministries,” stated Mohammed Ghazal, a 36-year-old civil engineer with glasses and a thick beard who grew up within the Emirates. United Arabs and spoke in nearly excellent English.

“We have now no drawback with any ethnicity or faith,” he stated. “The one who created the issue is the (Assad) regime.”

Nonetheless, the best way HTS formed the brand new interim authorities – ​​by bringing in senior officers from Idlib – has raised issues amongst some. 4 opposition sources and three diplomats informed Reuters they have been involved in regards to the inclusive nature of the method up to now.

Bashir stated he would solely keep in energy till March. However HTS – which stays categorised as a terrorist group by america, regional energy Turkey and different governments – has but to spell out key particulars of the transition course of, together with its consideration of a brand new structure.

“You deliver collectively (ministers) of 1 colour, there ought to be participation of others,” stated Zakaria Malahifji, secretary basic of the Syrian Nationwide Motion, who as soon as served as a political adviser to rebels in Aleppo. He stated the dearth of session in the course of the formation of an interim authorities was a misstep.

“Syrian society is numerous by way of cultures and ethnicities, so frankly, it’s regarding,” he stated.

“RUINS, RUINS, RUINS”

Like different members of the HTS-affiliated Salvation Authorities in Idlib dropped at Damascus to run state organs, Ghazal stated he gave assurances to workers and urged them to return to work. “It is a collapsed state. It is ruins, ruins, ruins,” Ghazal stated.

His priorities for the following three months will likely be to make primary providers work and streamline paperwork. Salaries, which common $25 per thirty days, can be elevated in keeping with Salvation Authorities salaries. His minimal wage is $100 per thirty days.

“Syria is a really wealthy nation,” Ghazal stated, when requested how this is able to be financed. “The regime was stealing the cash.”

Cops from Idlib direct site visitors in Damascus, attempting to revive some normality since HTS ordered armed teams to depart town. An officer, who didn’t give his title, stated they have been on the finish of their energy, stressing that beforehand they’d solely to patrol Idlib.

Whereas the HTS is predominant among the many factions that fought Assad, others stay armed, significantly within the border areas with Jordan and Turkey.

Throughout the conflict, insurgent factions typically clashed, leaving a legacy of rivalries and enmity seen as one among many dangers to stability in post-Assad Syria.

Yezid Sayigh, a senior fellow on the Carnegie Center East Heart, stated HTS “clearly seeks to take care of momentum in any respect ranges,” including that any group in its place, taking on from a collapsed regime in an exhausted nation, would would come with broadly. in the identical manner.

“There are a number of dangers related to HTS setting priorities and the tempo of what comes subsequent. Certainly one of them is to determine a brand new type of authoritarian rule, this time below the quilt of Islam,” he stated.

However he stated the variety of the Syrian opposition and society would make it tough to monopolize one group’s affect.

Turkey – an influential backer of the opposition – additionally needs a authorities that may win worldwide help, he stated.

“WE WILL ONLY STAY UNTIL MARCH”

An opposition supply near the HTS consultations stated all Syrian sects can be represented in an interim authorities. Points to be decided over the following three months embody whether or not Syria ought to have a presidential or parliamentary system of presidency, the supply stated.

The Syrian revolt grew out of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings that toppled autocrats in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Yemen, giving rise to turbulent and infrequently violent durations of transition.

In an interview with Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera on Wednesday, Prime Minister Bashir stated that “we are going to solely keep till March 2025.”

The priorities, he defined, are to revive safety and state authority, repatriate tens of millions of Syrian refugees and supply important providers.

When requested if Syria’s new structure can be Islamic, he stated “these particulars” can be clarified in the course of the constitution-making course of.

Mohammed Alaa Ghanem, a outstanding Syrian activist based mostly in Washington and in contact with senior opposition officers, stated HTS was being requested to “be good and make the transition profitable, as an alternative of letting the second get to them.” the pinnacle by fully dominating the brand new authorities”. .

The Biden administration has urged HTS to not routinely assume management of Syria however as an alternative launch an inclusive course of to type a transitional authorities, in response to two U.S. officers and a congressional aide briefed on early U.S. contacts with the group.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated Syria’s transition ought to result in “credible, inclusive and non-sectarian governance”, in keeping with UN Safety Council Decision 2254.

This decision, authorized in 2015, requires a Syrian-led and United Nations-facilitated course of, establishing non-sectarian governance inside six months and setting a timetable for the method of drafting a brand new structure.

It additionally calls at no cost and truthful elections.

A diplomat in Damascus stated HTS was the one faction to satisfy with overseas missions. “We’re apprehensive: the place are all of the leaders of the political opposition,” the diplomat stated. “It might be a significant sign to have them right here, and so they’re not right here.”

A second diplomat stated HTS had despatched good messages to the general public, however the stage of inclusiveness displayed in latest days was worrying. Constitutional reform, particularly, should be an inclusive course of and would represent an actual take a look at.

The diplomat famous the presence of many different factions that haven’t but disarmed or demobilized as a probably destabilizing issue if an inclusive course of doesn’t happen.

Joshua Landis, an professional on Syria and director of the Heart for Center East Research on the College of Oklahoma, stated Sharaa “should assert its authority rapidly to forestall a descent into chaos.”

“But it surely should additionally attempt to improve its administrative capability by bringing in technocrats and representatives of assorted communities,” he stated.