several chancelleries are establishing ties with the new power in place

Foreign chancelleries, initially cautious, are increasing their efforts to establish contact with the new Islamist power in Syria, a week after the fall of Bashar al-Assad. Le Figaro takes stock of the situation.

Meeting with the UN special envoy

Visiting Syria, UN special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen met with Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, leader of the radical Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTC), who heads the coalition of groups rebels who ousted Bashar al-Assad from power, the coalition announced on its Telegram channel.

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“We must ensure that Syria receives increased immediate humanitarian assistance for the population and for all refugees who wish to return”declared earlier in the day Geir Pedersen, whose visit is the first by a senior UN official since the flight of Bashar al-Assad to Russia. On December 8, the rebel coalition entered Damascus and announced the overthrow of power, after a dazzling offensive which allowed it to seize a large part of the country in 11 days. Abandoned by his Iranian and Russian allies, Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow.

HTC, former Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda, claims to have broken with jihadism, but remains classified “terrorist” by several Western capitals, including Washington. 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.

United States, France, Qatar…

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 HTC, classified as an organization by London. For its part, France announced the sending of a diplomatic mission on Tuesday to Damascus, the first in 12 years, to “establish first contacts” with the new authorities.

Doha announced the reopening of its embassy in Syria on Tuesday after the arrival on Sunday of a Qatari delegation in the country where it 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. Neighboring Syria, she said “ready” to provide military aid if the new Syrian government requests it, according to its Defense Minister, Yasar Güler. He 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.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, for his part, announced that he wanted to provide Syria with grain and other agricultural products on a humanitarian basis.

EU sends senior representative to Damascus to meet new leaders

The European Union will send a high representative to Damascus on Monday to meet the leaders of the new power in place in Syria, announced the head of European diplomacy Kaja Kallas.

“Our high representative in Syria will go to Damascus today”said Kaja Kallas upon her arrival in Brussels for a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

“Guarantee the rights of all”

After 50 years of unchallenged rule by the Assad clan and relentless repression, the new authorities are working to reassure the international community. 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. “We feel liberated! We can finally say what we think without being afraid.says Yasmine Chehab, an English literature student at Damascus University.

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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. “Thank God our situation is good”declared a faithful, Ibtissam al-Khouli, to AFP. “Everyone feels good, there is no fear”.

Macabre discoveries

But each day that passes since the fall of Bashar al-Assad also 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. Photos of missing young men in hand, families crowd around the 14 remaining bodies. “I’m looking for my son”dit Fatima Marakbawi, la quarantaine. “They took it 11 or 12 years ago. 9 years ago he was in Saydnaya, now he is no longer there and my heart is broken.”

Israel places its pawns

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. Israel conquered part of the Golan, in southwest Syria, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, before annexing this territory in 1981. Only the United States, during Donald Trump's first term, recognized this annexation in 2019.

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Intense Israeli strikes also 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. “Israeli warplanes launched strikes” at several sites, including air defense units and “surface-to-surface missile depots”according to the NGO, referring to the “heaviest strikes since 2012” in this coastal region which is home to a Russian naval base.