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With the ‘nightmare’ of Assad over, moderation of Islamist rebels eases Syrians’ fears

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Members of the opposition forces eat as they are deployed in the liberated areas of Daraa, northern Syria, on Tuesday. Photo by Fadel Itani /UPI.
Members of the opposition forces eat as they’re deployed within the liberated areas of Daraa, northern Syria, on Tuesday. Photo by Fadel Itani /UPI. | License Photo

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Dec. 18 (UPI) — Syrians, who suffered from the atrocities dedicated by President Bashar Assad’s regime for many years, have welcomed the principally Islamist rebels who toppled him with open arms.

The rebels ended the Syrians’ nightmare and eased their fears with an excellent dose of moderation and assurances for the long run — a minimum of for now, opposition and navy analysts stated.

Opposition forces, who fought for 14 years to free the nation from the brutal Baath Party rule, by no means gave up. Assad by no means thought of stepping down, leaving the nation or in search of refuge till Dec. 8, when Moscow requested his rapid evacuation to Russia after the autumn of Damascus.

It took the opposition forces, led by Islamist insurgent group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, generally known as HST, solely 11 days to convey him and his regime down in swift assaults beginning Nov. 27, throughout which they captured the primary cities of Aleppo, Hams and Homs and superior rapidly towards the capital.

The Syrian Army already knew it was a dropping battle and shunned combating. On his final day in energy, Assad lastly realized that he misplaced their help and left the nation in a rush with out making a ultimate speech or delegating his powers.

He merely left Syria with none command. While the troopers had been seen leaving their posts and taking off their navy uniforms, the rebels from the HTS and the Syrian National Army, composed of Turkish-backed Syrian militias, fanned out contained in the capital and declared it “liberated.”

They had been greeted by jubilant and cheerful residents who took to the streets to have a good time Assad’s ouster and the top of 54 years of iron-fisted Baath Party’s reign beneath his household.

Many, nevertheless, had been cautious regarding the takeover by HTS, an offshoot of al Qaeda that’s listed as a terrorist group by the United States.

Its chief, Ahmad Sharaa, who dropped utilizing his nom de guerre, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, and began utilizing his actual identify, seems extra reasonable and has distanced himself from his jihadist previous, when he joined al-Qaeda to combat the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

He gave the primary signal of such a change on the bottom when the fighters first entered Aleppo and later captured the opposite most important cities peacefully, calling on residents, together with the Christians, to renew their regular life.

Women had been assured that they won’t be requested to put on the Muslim veil, alcohol won’t be banned and state establishments can be rehabilitated to make sure the forming of a “robust and environment friendly” governance system.

That governance system depends upon convincing different armed teams, some extremists, to kind a “unity authorities” the place Syria’s many ethnic and non secular communities are represented and fulfill folks’s aspirations for a civil state.

The fast fall of Assad, which shocked the world, got here on account of an assault that has been ready for a while, coupled with “regional and worldwide intersections,” based on Alia Mansour, a Syrian political activist and former political committee member of the Syrian Coalition opposition group.

“But, it was first because of the will of the Syrian individuals who fought for 14 years to regain their freedom,” Mansour informed UPI, including that sustaining Assad in energy proved to be “expensive” even for his allies, Russia and Iran.

Assad has persistently refused to have interaction in a U.N.-led political course of to finish the bloody battle that started with peaceable protests on March 15, 2011, and escalated right into a full-scale violence. More than one-half million folks had been killed and 12 million displaced, together with 7.2 million pressured to maneuver internally for security.

Until the current weeks, the ousted president nonetheless was satisfied that he had gained the conflict and regained the help of the Arab nations that lifted their boycott and invited him to their summit conferences; some even reopened their embassies in Damascus.

But he in all probability failed to acknowledge the truth that he was being “deserted from inside,” stated Turki al Hassan, a navy professional and retired Syrian Army normal.

“The armed forces realized that they had been combating and not using a trigger,” al-Hassan informed UPI in a telephone interview from Damascus.

The conflict, he stated, may have stopped in 2017 if Assad had accepted a world roadmap for a peace course of in Syria primarily based on the 2015 Security Council Resolution 2254, which proposed a 12-month interim part that will finish with a ultimate settlement.

“But the liberation of Aleppo and another areas that fell once more beneath his management on the finish of 2016 made him really feel victorious,” al Hasan stated. “He saved on saying ‘sure’ to the negotiations, however in truth didn’t desire a settlement, for it could finish his management over the nation and transfer Syria to a brand new power-sharing regime.”

The deteriorating residing circumstances in regime-held areas, marked by lengthy hours of energy outages and shortages of gasoline, bread and different primary commodities, had been in sharp distinction with affluent companies managed by the regime’s shut circles.

Al Hassan stated the previous 5 years of Assad’s rule had been “the worst,” even for his supporters who suffered to make ends meet whereas he and his London-born spouse, Asmaa, had been accumulating an opulent wealth on the expense of a inhabitants plunging into excessive poverty.

His navy males had been equally struggling, with a brigadier normal’s month-to-month wage barely reaching $30. Earlier this month, Assad determined to extend the navy personnel’s wage by 50% as insurgent forces stepped up their assaults on northern Syria, capturing Aleppo.

“This [pay increase] just isn’t one thing wholesome in an establishment required to combat,” Al Hassan stated. “There isn’t any Army now in Syria. … The one who’s accountable for that’s Assad” for fleeing with out delegating his powers, prompting his generals and troopers to drop arms and depart their bases.

Not solely Syria is left with out a military, however Israel additionally seized the chance of the prevailing chaos and carried out a whole lot of airstrikes that destroyed 80% of the Syrian military’s capabilities, together with heavy weapons and air defenses.

Mansour, the Syrian political activist, stated that the second Assad misplaced energy, Israel began concentrating on the Syrian Army and destroying its belongings.

“This is the most important proof that Israel misplaced the one [Assad] who was defending its borders and thus began to concern the Syrian military,” she stated

To Mansour, there was “nothing worse” than the Assad regime, explaining that the Islamists “discovered from their errors” and know that they can’t rule the nation alone. The Syrians additionally paid a excessive worth to realize freedom and a state that might shield their rights, she stated.

Despite a normal sense of aid for ending “the Assad’s nightmare,” Syria just isn’t secure and has large challenges forward.

Al-Hassan highlighted the “clean, non-violent transition” and “absence of acts of revenge,” though some looting and destruction apparently had been carried out by different teams or people.

“There had been errors and violations, however those that took energy usually are not only one group managed by HTS. … There are others who’ve their very own ideology and practices,” he stated.

What the Syrian folks want, he added, is “safety and security” as a precedence, however additionally they must really feel the change by enhancing their residing and financial circumstances.

“Lifting sanctions and opening the financial system is a should,” Al Hassan stated, referring to the harshest sanctions imposed on Syria by the United States in 2019, generally known as the Caesar Act.

Post-Assad Syria stands at a crossroads. The efficiency of the brand new management and its interim authorities will be decisive in guiding the nation’s future.

A toddler stands atop an deserted tank whereas opposition fighters unfold out to areas beforehand managed by Assad’s regime within the liberated areas of Daraa, in northern Syria, on December 17, 2024. Photo by Fadel Itani /UPI | License Photo

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