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Turkey opens embassy in Damascus, Jordan hosts meeting on Syria
Turkey, a major player in the conflict in Syria and support of the new authorities, must reopen its embassy on Saturday in Damascus after more than 12 years of closure, in the wake of the fall of President Bashar al-Assad. In Jordan, ministers and officials Americans, Europeans, Arabs and Turks hold a meeting in Aqaba on the Red Sea, to discuss the Syrian issue after the flight of Mr. Assad, driven out on December 8 by a dazzling offensive by Islamist rebels who entered Damascus. Following celebrations across the country of crowds of jubilant Syrians celebrating the “victory of the revolution”, residents went about their business, particularly in Damascus. Traffic police under the new authorities were deployed in the streets of the capital, where municipal employees clean the roads. Most businesses have reopened, including the famous al-Hamidiyé souk in old Damascus, according to AFP correspondents on site. “We need to restart activity in the souk quickly,” says Amjad Sandouq, a trader. “The regime has fallen, but the state has not fallen, thank God.” The head of Turkish diplomacy Hakan Fidan, who reported open lines of communication with the new masters of Damascus, announced that the head of mission went to Damascus to open the embassy on Saturday. The chancellery closed in March 2012, a year after the start of the civil war in Syria, triggered by the repression of pro-democracy demonstrations, and after calls from the government Turkish on the resignation of Mr. Assad.- Direct dialogue Turkey-HTS – At the end of an 11-day offensive, a coalition of rebel factions led by the radical Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took over governments across much of the country, putting an end to half a century of power for the Assad family. The new Prime Minister in charge of the transition until March 1, Mohammad al-Bashir, promised the rule of law and “guaranteeing the rights of all”, in the face of concerns from the international community.HTS, led by Abu Mohammad al -Jolani, claims to have broken with jihadism but remains classified as a “terrorist” by several Western capitals, including Washington. With open lines of communication with the HTS, Turkey directly conveys to them the concerns of the international community, which must be “resolute”, said Mr. Fidan. “No one knows them as well as we do, we want a Syria without terrorism (…).” “We tell them (to HTS): Turkey, which has supported you for years, as well as the world, expects this from you (…) Our duty and their test is to respond to these concerns,” he added. – “No longer invest in Assad” -Since 2016, Turkey has exercised considerable influence over northern Syria, maintaining relations with HTS which launched its offensive against power from Idleb (northwest), its stronghold.M. Fidan also said his country had convinced Russia and Iran, close allies of Mr. Assad, not to intervene during the rebel offensive. Russians and Iranians “quickly understood that Mr. Assad was no longer someone in whom it was necessary to invest.” For its part, a delegation from Qatar went to Syria on Sunday to prepare for the reopening of the embassy, according to a diplomat .In Aqaba, Geir Pedersen, the UN special envoy for Syria, called for working to avoid “the collapse of Syrian institutions”, during a meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, before the international meeting. He also called for a “credible and inclusive” political process to form the next government. “United, united, united, the Syrian people are united,” has become the leitmotif of Syrians since Mr. Assad fled with his family to Russia. But the jubilation is accompanied by the painful quest of Syrians who are looking for their loved ones who disappeared during the decades of brutal repression of the Assad power, accused of the worst abuses.- Israeli raids -Several actors supported by different powers were involved in the war in Syria, which left more than half a million dead and pushed to some six million Syrians, or a quarter of the population, have fled. In northeastern Syria, the United States maintains around 900 soldiers and supports the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which defeated the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) during the war and installed an autonomous administration. The SDF welcomed the fall of Mr. AssadIsrael, Syria’s southern neighbor, carried out new strikes on “military sites of the old regime” in Damascus and its suburbs, destroying a scientific institute and a “military airport”, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH). The strikes also targeted “ballistic missile warehouses” and rocket launchers in Qalamoun, on the outskirts of Damascus, as well as “tunnels” under the mountains, added the OSDH. These raids aim to “destroy what remains of the military capabilities of the next Syrian army”, according to the Observatory.bur/tp/hme
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