Everyone wants to believe it. The Syrians first. Tuesday, New Year’s Eve on December 31 was the first that the country celebrated in the absence of the Assad clan since… 1971. “Keep your head high, you are a free Syrian”, said the songs, while Damascus lit up brightly. lights. Europeans want to believe it, too. The visit of the heads of French and German diplomacy, arriving aboard a military plane on Friday, is the latest episode in the completely unexpected upheaval experienced by Syria since the flight of Bashar el-Assad, there at three weeks.
But everyone walks on eggshells. Received by the country’s new strongman, the two European officials were as eager to show their commitment as their skepticism. What are the plans of the man who has just abandoned his nom de guerre (Al-Joulani), to become Ahmed al-Charaa again? What confidence can we place in the change of this Islamist leader, who until recently embodied one of the great dangers facing which Western and Arab countries preferred to put up with a bloodthirsty despot in power?
As Jean-Noël Barrot reminded Damascus, France again bombed, on the same New Year’s Eve, positions of the Islamic State organization (Daesh) in Syria. The United States, Russia, Israel, Turkey are all states on the lookout, even in a situation of almost open war. The Kurds, Christians and Alawites remain suspicious to say the least – with good reason – without even mentioning the vast majority of the rest of the Syrians, and Syrian women, who are not very keen on opening their arms wide to these converted jihadists. “Europe will not finance new Islamist structures,” summarized Annalena Baerbock, the head of German diplomacy. “But she will provide her support,” she added.
Squaring the circle
Squaring the circle is not simpler for Al-Joulani/Al-Charaa himself. What to do with his former traveling companions, especially the most warlike among them? How can we restore order, avoid revenge, respect and ensure respect for minorities, revive the economy of a country which certainly only asks for that, but which was left in pieces by the dictatorial mafia which preceded it? From his point of view, it is also a matter of avoiding being outplayed by “opposition from abroad” which has certainly not served much purpose in recent years, but which is waiting for it. also his turn…
The new strongman in Damascus has called for four years before organizing elections. An eternity which is undoubtedly unacceptable, even in this country where everything has to be done. But if it wants to be useful, Europe must demonstrate humility and recognize its share of responsibility in the profound tragedy that the Syrians have gone through. In this very complex Syrian puzzle, it would thus have everything to gain from avoiding the double temptation of condescension and moralization, which sometimes seemed to lie in wait for its two representatives in Damascus.
