Following the autumn of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s authorities, the Biden administration stated it could absolutely help a clear and inclusive transition course of towards a nonsectarian authorities accountable to the Syrian folks.
“The transition course of and new authorities should additionally uphold clear commitments to totally respect the rights of minorities, facilitate the circulate of humanitarian help to all in want, stop Syria from getting used as a base for terrorism or posing a risk to its neighbors, and be certain that any chemical or organic weapons stockpiles are secured and safely destroyed,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated in an announcement on Tuesday.
U.S. recognition of a brand new authorities in Damascus might result in the lifting of sanctions which have crippled the Syrian economic system. It’s an incentive the Biden administration can leverage at a second when the nation’s future is deeply unsure.
“What we wish to see by way of governance in Syria is governance that’s seen as credible and legit, that’s sustainable, that meets the aspirations of the Syrian folks,” White House nationwide safety communications adviser John Kirby stated in an interview Tuesday with VOA. It must be “the product of a Syrian-led course of.”
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the rebels who toppled Assad, is a U.S.-designated international terrorist group. Its chief, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, has a $10 million bounty on his head.
“This victory, my brothers, is a brand new chapter within the historical past of all the Islamic nation,” he stated in his first speech since his fighters quickly took management of the nation.
“It is a turning level for the area,” he stated, singling out Iran — a message he is aware of can be obtained effectively in Israel and the U.S. “He [Assad] handed Syria over to Iranian ambitions, spreading sectarianism and corruption all through the nation.”
Jolani pledged in an announcement Tuesday to “maintain accountable” members of Assad’s regime who had been “concerned in torturing the Syrian folks.”
In current years, he has espoused sectarian tolerance and distanced himself from extremist ideology. He has sought to reassure Syria’s ethnic and non secular minorities, which embrace Christians, Kurds, Druze and the Alawite neighborhood, a sect from which the Assad household originates.
But by delivering his victory speech not from the presidential palace however from the Great Mosque of Umayyad in Damascus — constructed within the eighth century by a Sunni caliphate —Jolani is sending a message to the area about his majoritarian motion.
His speech mirrors that of Islamic State’s first caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, on the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul in 2014, Michael Rubin, a senior fellow on the American Enterprise Institute, instructed VOA.
“On the rebels’ personal Telegram channel, there have been statements saying, ‘We’ve taken the Umayyad Mosque. Next, we’ll go for Al-Aqsa,’ which is in Jerusalem, in fact. ‘Then, we’ll go for the Kaaba,’ which is in Saudi Arabia,” Rubin stated.
US involvement
President Joe Biden has moved shortly, sending Blinken to Turkey and Jordan Wednesday to seek the advice of with leaders after ordering greater than 70 airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Syria on Sunday.
“The United States will work with our companions and stakeholders in Syria to assist them seize a possibility to handle the dangers,” Biden stated.
But on January 20, 2025, Biden can be changed by President-elect Donald Trump, who’s signaling that he desires the U.S. to remain out of the Syrian battle.
“This just isn’t our battle,” Trump stated on social media. “Let it play out. Do not get entangled!”
But the U.S. is already concerned. It has about 900 troops deployed in Syria and backs a Syrian Kurdish insurgent group. Washington additionally has shut ties with all of Syria’s neighbors — Iraq, Lebanon, in addition to allies Israel and Jordan, and NATO ally Turkey.
“They are straight impacted by what occurs in Syria, and they’re additionally able to affect what occurs in Syria, for higher or for worse,” stated Ryan Crocker, a former U.S. ambassador to Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.
“Don’t disengage utterly, actually not,” he instructed VOA. “But if you happen to do not wish to be overly engaged your self, the United States of America, that is the time to work very intently with companions across the area.”
Under Trump’s “America First” doctrine, it is unclear whether or not the U.S. would purpose its diplomatic efforts towards what Biden desires — a future Syrian authorities that’s inclusive and nonsectarian.
Stakeholders make strikes
Meanwhile, other than the U.S., Israel and Turkey have bombed Syrian targets to guard their pursuits.
Israel has launched tons of of strikes on navy targets to additional weaken what stays of the navy of Tehran’s once-stalwart ally and hold weapons from falling into extremists’ palms.
In northern Syria, insurgent teams supported by Turkey attacked U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters, who Ankara sees as allies of a separatist motion and displacing Syrian Kurds.
For now, Assad’s ally, Tehran, has misplaced a lot of its leverage. Weakened by the defeat of its proxies in Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, it might make use of pragmatism in coping with Damascus.
“The Iranian international minister has talked in regards to the new Syrians because the victory of the opposition, whereas prior to now, they would not legitimize them as opposition. They spoke of them as a substitute as terrorists,” Rubin stated, a sign that Tehran is weighing whether or not it may work with the incoming authorities.
Russia, one other Assad backer who has offered asylum for the embattled chief and his household, is lobbying to maintain its two navy bases in Syria. On Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated Moscow would enter talks with incoming authorities about Russia’s future navy presence.
Mohammed al-Bashir, Syria’s newly appointed caretaker prime minister who beforehand led the rebels’ civilian authorities, will run a transitional authorities till March 1, 2025, he stated in remarks on Tuesday.
