Every week after a lightning offensive toppled longtime chief Bashar al-Assad, Syrians are solely starting to scratch the floor of the atrocities dedicated below his rule, because the nation’s new rulers search to reassure the worldwide neighborhood.
UN particular envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen arrived in Damascus on Sunday, his spokesperson mentioned, declining to offer particulars of his agenda.
Calm is slowly returning to the streets of the capital, with dozens of youngsters streaming again to highschool on Sunday for the primary time since Assad fled.
“The varsity has requested us to ship center and higher pupils again to class,” mentioned mom of three Raghida Ghosn, 56.
“The youthful ones will return in two days,” she advised AFP.
An official at one Damascus college mentioned “not more than 30 %” have been again on Sunday, however that “these numbers will rise regularly”.
Assad fled Syria final weekend following an 11-day insurgent offensive led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), bringing to a dramatic finish greater than 50 years of brutal Assad clan rule.
His fall comes over 13 years into the civil conflict sparked by Assad’s violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2011.
The conflict has killed upwards of 500,000 individuals and displaced greater than half the nation’s inhabitants.
Within the week for the reason that rebels took Damascus, every day has seen extra gentle shed on the depths of the despair visited upon Syria’s individuals over the previous 5 a long time.
Journalist Mohammed Darwish was a type of held within the so-called Palestine Department, or Department 235, a jail that was run by Syria’s feared intelligence companies.
“I used to be a type of they interrogated probably the most,” Darwish advised AFP as he returned to the jail years after his ordeal in 2018. He mentioned he was questioned “day-after-day, morning and night time” for 120 days.
– ‘Inclusive, consultant’ –
On Saturday, US State Secretary Antony Blinken mentioned Washington had “been in touch with HTS and with different events,” with out specifying how this contact occurred.
In the meantime Western and Arab states together with Turkey — a key backers of anti-Assad rebels — referred to as for a united peaceable Syria following a gathering between Blinken and prime diplomats in Jordan.
In a joint assertion, diplomats from the USA, Turkey, the European Union and Arab nations referred to as for a Syrian-led transition to “produce an inclusive, non-sectarian and consultant authorities shaped by way of a clear course of”, with respect for human rights.
A Qatari delegation was due in Syria Sunday to satisfy transitional authorities officers for talks on support and reopening its embassy.
Not like different Arab states, Qatar by no means restored diplomatic ties with Assad after a rupture in 2011.
Sunni Muslim HTS is rooted in Syria’s department of Al-Qaeda and is designated a “terrorist” organisation by many Western governments.
Though it has sought to reasonable its rhetoric lately, its seizure of energy has sparked issues each domestically and internationally over the safety of spiritual and ethnic minorities.
The interim authorities insists that the rights of all Syrians will probably be protected, as will the rule of legislation.
On Sunday, Syrian Christians attended their first church service since Assad’s fall.
Pubs and shops promoting alcohol in Damascus initially closed following the insurgent victory, however are actually tentatively reopening.
Safi, landlord of the Papa bar within the Outdated Metropolis, mentioned the rebels advised him: “‘You’ve gotten the fitting to work and stay your life as you probably did earlier than’.”
– Israeli strikes –
Assad was propped up by Russia — to the place a former aide advised AFP he had fled — in addition to Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group.
The rebels started their offensive on November 27, the identical day a ceasefire took impact within the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon, through which Assad’s ally suffered staggering losses.
Naim Qassem, the chief of Iran-backed Hezbollah, admitted Saturday that with Assad’s fall, his group may not be provided militarily by way of Syria.
He additionally mentioned he hoped Syria’s new rulers noticed Israel “as an enemy” and don’t normalise ties with the nation.
Each Israel and Turkey have carried out navy strikes inside Syria since Assad’s fall.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Sunday reported contemporary Israeli strikes close to Damascus, after 60 strikes throughout Syria on Saturday.
The Britain-based Observatory, which depends on a community of sources in Syria, reported strikes on Syrian military tunnels and arms depots within the Damir space close to Damascus on Sunday.
Israel has additionally ordered troops right into a UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, a transfer the UN mentioned violated a 1974 armistice.
HTS chief Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, now utilizing his actual identify Ahmed al-Sharaa, mentioned the Israeli transfer “threatens a brand new unjustified escalation within the area”.
However “the overall exhaustion in Syria after years of conflict and battle doesn’t enable us to enter new conflicts,” he mentioned in an internet assertion.
