Time to answer Syria’s hard questions

Alameen Templeton

The time has come in Syria to answer the hard questions everyone has held in abeyance ever since the start of the Syrian war 13 years ago.
What are the Americans to do about ISIS groups they kept on life support for the duration on the off chance they could weaken the Assad government?
How is Türkiye going to manage its relations with Syria now that it has toppled the government, but has replaced it with something that could metastasise in any direction, most of them pointing to chaos?
What are mujahideen to do about ties to western intelligence that kept up a supply of arms throughout and now expect cooperation and cooption?
What are Syrians to do about Israel now that Bashar al-Assad is gone and the Zionists are already menacing the capital?
What are rebels to do about state officials implicated in torture and human rights abuses, but are needed to ensure the levers of government continue operating?
Bashar al-Assad left it too late for his questions. He refused repeated Turkish invitations and Russian overtures to negotiate his end or his exit and finally fled the country in disgrace, a coward’s finale.
Now, 13 million refugees, five million of them in other countries, want to come home. Families of detainees want them back and thousands of people are calling for the arrest of former torturers.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) has ordered all fighters to withdraw from cities and is preparing to get the government and economy working again. Banks reopened their doors Tuesday, still trading the Syrian currency, while the government announced all government departments remained off-limits to all fighters, insisting it was time to get the state operating again.
HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has appointed Mohamed Al-Bashir to head up the new government. He Monday met Assad’s prime minister Mohammed Jalali and vice president Faisal Mekdad to discuss an orderly transfer of power. Al-Bashir headed up HTS’s idlib governate for about four years.
Shops were reopening their doors yesterday and Damascus’s centre was returning to life as residents started showing a guarded optimism about the new developments, some expressing surprise and delight to find ATMs working again.
At the historic Hamadiyeh market, fighters who seized power were still standing guard but shops had reopened — even an ice cream stand.
Resident Maysoun Al-Qurabi said she was initially “against what happened,” referring to the rebels, but changed her mind after seeing footage of insurgents releasing inmates from the notorious Saydnaya prison.
“People are at ease and secure now,” she said. “Before, people were hungry and scared,” she told Associated Press.
Minority Christians were living in “a state of uneasy anticipation”, AP reports. Mazen Kalash, a resident from Bab Touma suburb in Damascus says he’s still waiting to hear the plans for the new government.
The insurgents have so far attempted to reassure minorities that they will be protected.
Syrian Christians make up 10% of the population.
Eyes are starting to turn to Türkiye for some of the answers. As the main backer of HTS, most see the ball in Ankara’s court.
Türkiye has called for an inclusive government to be established, but is insisting the PKK be excluded from participation in any form.
Arab countries have condemned Israel’s seizure of a “buffer zone” in Syria’s Golan Heights and are expecting Türkiye to address the issue.
Anadolu reports Egypt’s Foreign Ministry described the move as “an occupation of Syrian territory and a flagrant violation to the 1974 Disengagement Agreement.”
Saudi Arabi accused Israel of trying to “sabotage Syria’s chances of regaining security, stability and territorial integrity” as Israeli warplanes bombed and destroyed critical Syrian military infrastructure throughout Monday and Tuesday.
Riyadh emphasized “the need for the international community to condemn these Israeli violations and reaffirm respect for Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and that the Golan is occupied Syrian Arab land.”
Qatar, in a statement from its Foreign Ministry, strongly condemned “the Israeli occupation’s seizure of the buffer zone with the sisterly Syrian Arab Republic and the neighboring leadership sites,” describing it as “a dangerous development and a blatant attack on Syria’s sovereignty and unity, as well as a flagrant violation of international law.”
It warned that the Israeli policy, including its attempts to seize Syrian territories, “will lead the region to further violence and tension.”
Kuwait, in a statement from its Foreign Ministry, also expressed “its strong condemnation and denunciation of the Israeli occupation forces’ seizure of the buffer zone on the Syrian border.”
Sky News reports the Israeli navy has said it destroyed Syria’s military fleet in an overnight operation. Defence minister Israel Katz also warned rebel leaders who follow deposed president Bashar al Assad’s path that “they will end up just like him”.
Russia is already making overtures to the new government. It would like to keep its naval berth in the port of Tartus and wants to safeguard its bases in north western Syria.
It may get a head start on most western countries like the US and Britain whose laws prevent politicians or officials from negotiating with “terrorist organisations”. Until those are changed and until Donald Trump comes into the White House on January 20, western opportunities to “get in early” seem constrained.