Syria | Foreign diplomacy makes contact with the new power

(Damascus) The heads of state of several countries, initially cautious, are stepping up efforts to establish contact with the new Islamist power in Syria, a week after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

In Damascus, the UN envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, called on Sunday for increased humanitarian aid and to avoid acts of “revenge”.

“We must ensure that Syria receives increased immediate humanitarian assistance for the population and for all refugees who wish to return,” said Mr. Pedersen, whose visit is the first by a senior UN official since Mr. Assad’s flight to Russia.

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.

In the meantime, some have announced that they have established contact with them.

After Washington on Saturday, the United Kingdom announced on Sunday that it had established “diplomatic contacts” with the radical Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), at the head of the coalition of rebel groups which ousted Mr. Assad from power.

HTS “remains a banned terrorist organization [au Royaume-Uni]but we can have diplomatic contacts,” British Foreign Secretary David Lammy told British media.

France announced the sending of a diplomatic mission to Damascus on Tuesday, the first in 12 years, to “establish initial contacts” with the new authorities.

Doha announced the arrival of a delegation on Sunday in Syria where it met officials of the transitional government, while preparing the reopening of its embassy.

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.

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, Mr. Assad fled to Moscow.

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.

Mass celebrated in Damascus

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”.

After the euphoria, Syrians are trying 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 the University of Damascus.

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.

“I’m looking for my son”

But each day that passes since the fall of Mr. 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, according to Assad Sakr, who keeps a large register.

“May God help all these people,” he told AFP.

Photos of missing young men in hand, families crowd around the 14 remaining bodies.

“I’m looking for my son,” says Fatima Marakbawi, in her forties. “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. »

Commitments of the new power

Neighboring Syria, Turkey has said it is “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 had pledged 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 Arms. chemicals.

Another neighbor of Syria, Israel, announced on Sunday a project aimed at doubling the population in the occupied and annexed part of the Syrian Golan.

“In light of the war and the new front in Syria and the desire to double the population of the Golan […]this is a decision that strengthens the localities of the Golan and the State of Israel,” indicated the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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

Bruised by nearly 14 years of devastating war triggered by the repression of pro-democracy demonstrations, Syria is undermined by an economy in tatters and international sanctions.

Without forgetting foreign interference and a very heavy human toll: half a million dead and six million Syrians on the run.