Syria: foreign chancelleries speak with the new power

Initially cautious, foreign chancelleries are increasing their efforts to establish contact with the new power in Syria, a week after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

Visiting Syria, the UN special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, met with Abu Mouhammad al-Jolani, leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, which heads the coalition of rebel groups in power, announced the latter on her channel Telegram. «We must ensure that Syria receives increased immediate humanitarian assistance for the population and for all refugees who wish to return“, declared the UN envoy earlier in the day.

Several countries and organizations had welcomed the fall of Assad, but said they were waiting to see how the new authorities, Sunni Muslims, would treat the minorities of the multi-ethnic and multi-religious country. HTS, the former Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda, claims to have broken with jihadism but remains classified as “terrorist” by several Western capitals, including Washington.

In the meantime, several have announced that they have established contact with them. After Washington on Saturday, the United Kingdom, through its head of diplomacy David Lammy, announced on Sunday that it had established “diplomatic contacts» with HTS.

«Premiers contacts»

For its part, France announced the sending of a diplomatic mission on Tuesday, December 17 to Damascus to “establish first contacts» with the new authorities. Qatar, for its part, will reopen its embassy in Syria on Tuesday, after the arrival in the country on Sunday of a delegation which met the new authorities.

Turkey, a major player in the conflict in Syria and support of the new authorities, had already reopened its embassy in Damascus on Saturday after more than 12 years of closure. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, for his part, announced that he wanted to provide Syria with grain and other agricultural products on a humanitarian basis.

The new Prime Minister in charge of the transition, Mohammad al-Bashir, promised to “guarantee the rights of all“, as Syrians try to resume their normal lives. On Sunday, some of the students returned to school in the capital, where the universities also reopened their doors. Shops and businesses have also reopened. And Sunday mass was celebrated at the Notre-Dame de la Dormition Cathedral in Damascus, in the presence of many faithful.

Each day that passes since the fall of Bashar al-Assad gives rise to macabre discoveries, testimony to the worst abuses of the fallen power. At the morgue at al-Moujtahed hospital in Damascus, residents flocked after HTS fighters brought back 35 bodies, 21 of which have already been identified by their families.

Commitments of the new power

Neighboring Syria, Turkey said to itself “ready» to provide military aid if the new Syrian government requests it, according to its Defense Minister, Yasar Güler. The latter further affirmed that the new authorities were committed to “respect all government institutions, the UN and other international organizations“, and promised to report any traces of chemical weapons to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Another neighbor of Syria, Israel, approved on Sunday a project aimed at doubling the population in the annexed part of the Syrian Golan, but says it has no interest in entering into conflict with Syria, after taking control of the monitored buffer zone by the UN separating the two countries on the Golan Heights.

However, intense Israeli strikes targeted military sites in the coastal region of Tartous in Syria during the night from Sunday to Monday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH). “Israeli warplanes launched strikes» at several sites, including air defense units and “surface-to-surface missile depots », According to the NGO.