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Update on Syria [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-03-10
Reuters has an in-depth look at Syria's newly installed interim president and head of the Turkish-backed Islamist HTS organization that led the overthrow of the decades long Assad regime three months ago.
This was apparently Sharaa’s first real interview with a Western news agency following the worst sectarian killing since Assad's downfall, in which hundreds of civilians were executed in a horrific spate of revenge killings after an abortive uprising among die-hard Assad supporters against the new authorities:
"We fought to defend the oppressed, and we won't accept that any blood be shed unjustly, or goes without punishment or accountability, even among those closest to us," Sharaa said. … While he blamed the outbreak of violence in recent days on a former military unit loyal to Assad's brother and an unspecified foreign power, he acknowledged that in response "many parties entered the Syrian coast and many violations occurred". "It became an opportunity for revenge" for years of pent-up grievances, he said, although he said the situation had since been largely contained. … A UK-based war monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said that as of Sunday night as many as 973 Alawite civilians had been killed in revenge attacks, after fighting in which more than 250 Alawite fighters and more than 230 members of the security forces had died. ... Sharaa recognised the violence of the past days threatened to derail his attempt to bring Syria together. It "will impact this path," Sharaa said, but he vowed to "rectify the situation as much as we can". To do that, Sharaa has set up an independent committee - the first body created by him that includes Alawites - to probe the killings within 30 days and bring perpetrators to account. A second committee was set up "to preserve civil peace and reconciliation, because blood begets more blood," he adadded.
At least Sharaa seems to recognize the seriousness of the situation and is taking some real first steps toward addressing it.
Sharaa said Assad loyalists belonging to the 4th Division of Assad's brother, Maher, and an allied foreign power had triggered the clashes on Thursday "to foment unrest and create communal discord". He did not identify the foreign power, but pointed to "parties that had lost out from the new reality in Syria", an apparent reference to long-time Assad ally Iran, whose embassy in Damascus is still closed. … Sharaa said security and economic prosperity were directly tied to lifting U.S. sanctions imposed against Assad. "We cannot establish security in the country with sanctions still in place against us." But there has not been any direct contact with Trump's administration in the nearly two months since he took office, amid scepticism over Sharaa's former Al Qaeda ties. When asked why, he said: "The Syrian file is not on U.S.'s list of priorities. You should ask this question to them. Syria's door is open.
The whole interview is well worth reading, including his views on the Kurds, the Russians, and the Israelis.
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