The first commercial flight since the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad took off from Damascus airport on Wednesday, offering a glimmer of hope for Syrians battling years of war and decades of oppression.
Assad fled Syria after a lightning offensive by the Islamist Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), more than 13 years after his crackdown on pro-democracy protests sparked one of the deadliest wars of this century.
He left behind a country scarred by decades of torture, disappearances and summary executions, and the collapse of his rule on December 8 shocked the world and sparked celebrations in Syria and beyond.
As the country’s new rulers tried to keep their institutions afloat, 43 people boarded a flight from Damascus to Aleppo on Wednesday, the first since Assad was overthrown and fled to Russia.
Earlier this week, airport staff painted the three-star independence flag on the plane, the symbol of the 2011 uprising now adopted by the transitional authorities.
In the terminal, new flags have also replaced flags associated with the Assad era.
The joy over Assad’s ouster has not ended the plight of a country ravaged by years of civil war and heavily reliant on aid.
HTS, which has roots in Syria’s al-Qaeda affiliate and is listed as a terrorist organization by several Western governments, has sought to moderate its rhetoric by ensuring protection for the country’s many religious and ethnic minorities.
-“We want to know”-
The military chief of the victorious HTS said the group would be “the first” to disband its armed wing and merge it into the armed forces after its leader ordered the rebel group to be disbanded.
“In any country, all military units must be included in this body,” Mulhav Abu Kasra, who goes by the pseudonym Abu Hassan Hamawi, told AFP in an interview.
“God willing, we will be the first to take the initiative (to disband our armed factions),” he said.
HTS has also vowed to seek justice for crimes committed under Assad’s rule, including the disappearance of tens of thousands of people in a complex network of detention centers and prisons that has been used to suppress dissent for decades.
“We want to know where our children, our brothers are,” said Ziad Alaywi, 55, standing next to a ditch near the town of Najha, southeast of Damascus.
Syrians believe it is one of the sites where the bodies of prisoners tortured to death are buried, an act that international organizations say may amount to crimes against humanity.
“Were they killed? Buried here?” he asked.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, more than 100,000 people have died or been killed in detention since 2011.
The country’s new rulers have stepped up engagement with countries and international institutions that have long treated Assad as a pariah.
EU President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU would step up “direct engagement” with the new government.
Britain, France and Germany have sent delegations to Damascus, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni said Rome was “ready to engage with Syria’s new leadership” but urged “the utmost caution”.
-“Syrian leadership”-
U.N. Security Council members, including Assad allies Russia and the United States, called on Tuesday for an “inclusive, Syrian-led” political process.
“This political process should meet the legitimate aspirations of all Syrians, protect them all, and enable them to determine their future peacefully, independently and democratically,” the statement read.
It also “stresses the need for Syria and its neighbors to avoid each other taking any actions that could undermine each other’s security”.
Since Assad was overthrown, Israel has launched hundreds of attacks on Syrian military assets, allegedly to prevent them from falling into enemy hands.
Israeli troops also occupied strategic positions in the U.N.-patrolled buffer zone, a move U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called a violation of the 1974 armistice.
The United Nations’ special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, warned on Tuesday that the country’s protracted conflict “is not over yet.”
He said he was concerned about the escalation of conflict between the U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Turkish-backed groups, which have captured several Kurdish towns in recent weeks.
The United States later announced that it had brokered an extension of the ceasefire in the hotspot city of Manbij and sought a broader understanding with Türkiye.
SDF leaders proposed the creation of a “demilitarized zone” in the northern town of Kobani, also known as Ain al-Arab.
HTS military leader Abu Kasra told AFP in an interview that Kurdish-controlled areas would be included in the country’s new leadership, adding that the group rejected federalism.
Kurdish-controlled areas of Syria will be included in the country’s new leadership, adding that the group rejects federalism and “Syria will not be divided”.
“The Kurds are an integral part of the Syrian people…Syria will not be divided and there will be no federal entity,” he said.
Bourse/dv
