HTS starts getting down to picking up the pieces

Muhammad Amin

Abu Mohamed al-Jolani, the main commander of the rebels who toppled Bashar al-Assad has announced anyone involved in the torture or killing of detainees during the ousted president’s rule would be hunted down and pardons were off-limits.
“We will pursue them in Syria, and we ask countries to hand over those who fled so we can achieve justice,” al-Jolani said in a statement Wednesday.
Syria witnessed one of the most oppressive police states in the Middle East during five decades of Assad family rule. Jolani must balance demands for justice from victims with the need to prevent violence and secure international aid.
He says he wants to bring back millions of Syrian refugees, create unity and provide basic services, but he warns rebuilding will be daunting.
“In the coffers there are only Syrian pounds worth little or nothing. One U.S. dollar buys 35,000 of our coins,” Mohammed al-Bashir, the interim prime minister said.
“We have no foreign currency and as for loans and bonds we are still collecting data. So yes, financially we are very bad,” said Bashir, who ran a rebel-led administration in Idlib for four years.
Rebuilding Syria is a colossal task after a civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of people. Cities have been gutted, swathes of countryside depopulated and the economy hollowed out by US sanctions. Nearly 13million refugees still live in camps inside and outside Syria after one of the biggest displacements of modern times.
US officials are warily engaging the former rebels, although HTS remains on Washington’s terror list.
HTS has downplayed its jihadist roots. Western countries hope the new authorities’ behaviour will make it possible to ease wartime sanctions, as well as the terrorism bans.
The most punishing US sanctions are up for renewal this month, and the former rebels have told Reuters they are in touch with Washington about potentially easing them.
The new government says it will adopt a free-market model and integrate into the global financial system, the head of the Damascus Chambers of Commerce, Bassel Hamwi, told Reuters.
A resident of Assad’s family hometown of Qardaha said rebels had torched the mausoleum of Assad’s father Hafez over the past two days, instilling fear among villagers from Assad’s Alawite sect who had pledged cooperation with the new rulers.
Syrians lined up at the Turkish border Wednesday to head home, speaking of their expectations for a better life after over a decade of hardship in Turkey.
“We have no one here. We are going back to Latakia, where we have family,” said Mustafa as he prepared to enter Syria with his wife and three sons at the Cilvegozu border gate.
US Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer says Washington is still working out how it will engage with the former rebels. But it remains cautious.
“We have seen over the years any number of militant groups who have seized power, who have promised that they would respect minorities, who have promised that they would respect religious freedom, promised that they would govern in an inclusive way, and then see them fail to meet those promises,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.