Bashar Al-Assad breaks silence eight days after his fall | Post-Assad, new era in Syria

More than a week after being overthrown, former Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad broke his silence on Monday, saying he had only fled Syria after the fall of Damascus to a coalition rebel and calling the country’s new leaders “terrorists”.

On December 8, an insurgent alliance led by the radical Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTC) entered Damascus and announced the overthrow of power, after a dazzling offensive which allowed it to seize a large part of of the country in 11 days. Abandoned by his Iranian and Russian allies, Mr. Assad fled to Moscow.

My departure from Syria was not planned nor did it take place during the final hours of the battle, contrary to some allegations.declared Bashar Al-Assad in a statement in English on the presidency’s Telegram channel.

Moscow demanded […] an immediate evacuation to Russia on the evening of Sunday, December 8added Mr. Assad, who ruled Syria with an iron fist for 24 years, asserting that his country was now in the hands of terrorists.

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

Foreign diplomacy makes contact with the new power

After 50 years of unchallenged rule by the Assad clan and relentless repression against any opponent or presumed opponent, the new authorities are working to reassure the international community, and the chancelleries are gradually making contact with their leaders, including Abu Mohammed Al- Joulani, the head of HTC.

On Monday, the European Union announced that it would send a high representative to Damascus to meet the new leaders. L’UE will judge on actions going in the right directiondeclared the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas.

The day before, the special envoy of theHIM for Syria, Geir Pedersen, met Mr. Joulani, to whom he stressed the need for a transition credible and inclusiveaccording to its services.

The United Kingdom and the United States also indicated that they had established contacts with HTCand France announced that it would send a diplomatic mission to Damascus on Tuesday, the first in 12 years.

Neighboring Turkey, a major player in the conflict in Syria and support of the new authorities, reopened its embassy in Damascus on Saturday, saying it ready to provide military aid if requested by the new Syrian government.

Several countries and organizations had welcomed the fall of Assad, but said they were waiting to judge on the evidence the treatment by the new authorities, Sunni Muslims, of the minorities of this multi-ethnic and multi-religious country.

Towards a return to normal?

The new prime minister in charge of the transition until March 1, Mohamed Al-Bashir, promised to guarantee the rights of allas Syrians try to return to normal life.

In this context, the Syrian pound has recovered against the dollar.

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In every country in the world, the local currency collapses with the fall of a regime. Here in Syria it seems to be the oppositenotes Raghid Mansour, owner of a jewelry store in a Damascus souk.

According to an AFP photographer, employees of the capital’s airport painted on Monday, on planes of the private Syrian airline Cham Wings, the three-star flag symbol of the popular uprising of 2011 against Bashar Al-Assad and adopted by the new authorities.

This flag replaced the old one in the airport halls, according to this photographer.

In a military compound near Damascus, residents, including children, set fire to the houses of officers of the former government, AFP journalists noted. Tables, cabinets and chairs had previously been looted.

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In Latakia, Syria’s second port on the Mediterranean, hundreds of men and some women members of the former government forces lined up outside offices where the new authorities asked them to surrender their weapons and ‘save.

We expect at least 1000 todaytold AFP the person in charge of the scene, Mohamad Mustapha, 26 years old, ex-soldier from Idlib (north-west), rebel stronghold. The new authorities will carry out investigations about their past et in the event of a serious crime, they will be transferred to justicehe explained.

Nearly 14 years of civil war triggered by the repression of pro-democracy demonstrations have left Syria with a heavy toll of half a million dead and six million inhabitants having fled abroad.

Ayoush Hassan, from the countryside of Aleppo (north), has been desperately searching for his son since the fall of Assad, like many Syrians whose loved ones disappeared during the conflict and decades of repression.

We want our children, alive, dead, burned, in ashes, buried in mass graveshe implores.

Israeli strikes

In this context of historic change in a devastated and fragmented country, neighboring Israel carried out intense strikes during the night from Sunday to Monday on military sites in the coastal region of Tartous, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. ‘man.

According to theONGthese are the heavier Israeli strikes since 2012 in this region, which is home to a Russian naval base. The Israeli army says it wants to prevent Syrian weapons from falling into the hands of extremists.

On the heights of Tartous, the roads are littered with broken glass. The village did not sleep all night. The children were cryingtestifies a resident who refuses to give his name.