A first diplomatic visit for the new Syrian leaders

As Syria’s new leaders made their first official foreign visit to Saudi Arabia, the Islamist-led government is on the defensive after controversial changes to school textbooks.

The Ministry of Education announced on Wednesday that it had made some changes to school books, removing propaganda from the Baath Party which was in power under Bashar Al-Assad, but also poems about women and love.

The changes also included:

  • the interpretation of a Quranic verse relating to those who provoked anger of God and the lostas referring to Jews and Christians;
  • the nationalist phrase sacrifice one’s life to defend one’s homeland was further replaced by the expression sacrifice one’s life for the cause of God.

In a country where several religions coexist, the announcement of the changes sparked controversy on social networks.

Changing the school curriculum under the supervision of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (the Islamist group close to power) is not only an educational danger, but a long-term threat to the social fabric and future of Syriasaid Yazidi Kurdish activist and journalist Shiyar Khaleal.

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In Syria, Christians were able to celebrate their first Christmas since the fall of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime, but a Christmas tree set on fire near Hama by jihadists cast a shadow over the festivities.

Photo: Photo taken from X

Syria’s new leaders have so far repeatedly sought to reassure minorities that they would not be victims of violence. But some incidents, such as the burning of the Christmas tree in a public square in Souqaylabiya, a predominantly Orthodox Christian town in the west of the country, have sparked fear.

The question of reconstruction

And these fears also exist among the leaders of several countries who are asking for guarantees before financing the reconstruction of the country, whose economy and infrastructure are bloodless after 14 years of civil war having left more than 528,000 dead.

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Demolished buildings in Daraya, a suburb of Damascus.

Photo : Getty Images / Ali Haj Suleiman

In an attempt to reassure the world political class, the Syrian head of diplomacy arrived in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday at the head of a large delegation including the Minister of Defense and the head of the intelligence services .

This first visit in the history of free Syria allows us to open a new page in Syrian-Saudi relations, commensurate with the long shared history between our two countries.

A quote from Assaad Al-Chibani, head of Syrian diplomacy

The three officials were received by the Saudi Minister of Defense, Prince Khaled bin Salman, to discuss developments in Syria and ways to support the transitional political processindicated the Saudi channel Al-Ikhbariya.

In an interview last week with Saudi television Al-Arabiya, the country’s new leader, Ahmed Al-Charaa, said that Saudi Arabia would certainly play a very important role in Syria, where it could take advantage of great investment opportunities.

New Syrian leader Ahmed Al-Charaa (C) arrives in Damascus on December 22, 2024 for a meeting with Druze representatives of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP).

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Ahmed Al-Charaa, the new leader of Syria. (Archive photo)

Photo : Getty Images

According to him, organizing elections in Syria could take up to four years. Meanwhile, he said he hopes US President-elect Donald Trump will lift sanctions on Syria. The leader also highlighted the strategic interests between his country and Russia.

A sign that the general trend is towards appeasement, the airline Qatar Airways announced Thursday, in a press release, the resumption of its flights to Syria on January 7, with three weekly flights departing from Doha.

The connections between Qatar Airways and Syria were broken up in 2011 after the brutal repression of pro-democracy protests by the government of Bashar Al-Assad.

With information from Agence -Presse

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