People gather around a fire on a street corner in the Syrian town of Jobar in Eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of Damascus, on Dec. 15, 2024. (Credit: Bakr al-Kassem/AFP)
Initially cautious, foreign governments are stepping up their efforts to establish contact with the new Islamist government in Syria, a week after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
Visiting Syria, U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen met with Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, leader of the radical Islamist group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), head of the coalition of rebel groups that ousted Assad from power, the coalition announced on its Telegram channel.
"We must ensure that Syria receives increased immediate humanitarian aid for the population and for all refugees who wish to return," said Pedersen earlier in the day, whose visit is the first by a senior U.N. official since Assad fled to Russia.
On Dec. 8, the rebel coalition entered Damascus and announced the overthrow of the government, after a lightning offensive that enabled it to seize a large part of the country in 11 days. Failed by his allies Iran and Russia, Assad fled to Moscow.
HTS, the former Syrian branch of al-Qaeda, claims to have broken with jihadism but is still classified as a "terrorist" by several Western capitals, including Washington.
Several countries and organizations welcomed the fall of Assad but said they were waiting to see how the new Sunni Muslim authorities would deal with the country's multi-ethnic and multi-faith minorities. In the meantime, several announced that they had established contact with them.
After Washington on Saturday, the UK, through its head of diplomacy David Lammy, announced on Sunday that it had established "diplomatic contacts" with HTS, classified as a terrorist organization by London.
'First contacts'
France announced that it was sending a diplomatic mission to Damascus on Tuesday, the first in 12 years, to "establish initial contacts" with the new authorities. Doha announced the reopening of its embassy in Syria on Tuesday, following the arrival of a Qatari delegation in the country on Sunday, where it met with the new authorities.
Turkey, a major player in the Syrian conflict and supporter of the new authorities, had already reopened its embassy in Damascus on Saturday after more than 12 years of closure. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced his intention to supply Syria with cereals and other agricultural products on humanitarian grounds.
After 50 years of undivided rule by the Assad family and relentless repression, the new authorities are doing their utmost to reassure the international community. The new Prime Minister in charge of the transition, Mohammad al-Bachir, has promised to "guarantee the rights of all," as Syrians try to resume their normal lives.
On Sunday, some students returned to school in the capital, where universities also reopened their doors. "We feel liberated! We can finally say what we think without being afraid," says Yasmine Shehab, an English literature student at Damascus University.
Shops and businesses also reopened. And Sunday mass was celebrated at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Dormition in Damascus, in the presence of many faithful. "Thank God, our situation is good," Ibtissam al-Khouli told AFP. "Everyone feels good, there's no fear."
But every day that passes since the fall of Assad also gives rise to macabre discoveries, testimony to the worst abuses of the deposed power. Residents flocked to the morgue of Damascus' al-Moujtahed hospital after HTS fighters brought in 35 bodies, 21 of which have already been identified by their families.
Photos of missing young men in hand, families crowd around the 14 remaining bodies. "I'm looking for my son," says Fatima Marakbawi, in her forties. "They took him 11 or 12 years ago. Nine years ago he was in Sednaya, now he's not and my heart is broken."
New government commitments
As Syria's neighbor, Turkey has said it is "ready" to provide military aid if requested by the new Syrian government, according to Defense Minister Yasar Güler.
He also said that the new authorities had pledged to "respect all government institutions, the U.N. and other international organizations," and promised to report any traces of chemical weapons to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Also on Syria's borders, Israel on Sunday approved a plan to double the population in the annexed Syrian Golan Heights, but says it has no interest in entering into conflict with Syria, having taken control of the U.N.-monitored buffer zone separating the two countries on the Golan Heights.
Israel conquered part of the Golan Heights in south-west Syria during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, before annexing the territory in 1981. Only the United States, during Donald Trump's first term in office, recognized this annexation in 2019.
Intense Israeli strikes also targeted military sites in the Syrian coastal region of Tartus on Sunday night, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
"Israeli fighter jets launched strikes" on several sites, including air defense units and "ground-to-ground missile depots," according to SOHR, referring to the "heaviest strikes since 2012" in this coastal region that is home to a Russian naval base.
Bruised by nearly 14 years of devastating war triggered by the repression of pro-democracy protests, Syria is undermined by a tattered economy and international sanctions. The country also faces foreign interference and a heavy human toll: half a million dead and six million Syrians displaced.
