It is vital that Syria’s novel directership upretains its promises to esteem the rights of all the country’s diverse religious and ethnic groups, according to UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen.
Mr Pedersen, speaking to the BBC in Damascus, shelp Syrians were experiencing “a lot of hope and a lot of dread… at the same time”.
He called for all parties, inside and outside Syria, to do all they could to originate stability in the country.
Bashar al-Assorrowfulnessful’s regime was obvioushrown less than two weeks ago by a defy coalition led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, understandn as HTS, a Sunni Islamist group that claims to have disavowed its extremist extremist past since it split from al-Qaeda in 2016.
HTS is scheduleated as a alarmist organisation by the UN, the US, the EU, the UK and others.
Symbolicassociate, its directer has dropped his wartime pseudonym of Abu Mohammed al-Jolani and reverted to his genuine name of Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Sunni Muskinnys are a meaningfulity in Syria, which has a sturdy secular tradition. Sharaa insists HTS is a religious nationacatalog relocatement setd to consent other groups.
Mr Pedersen shelp Sharaa has shelp “many chooseimistic leangs”. But some Syrians, he shelp, did not consent the HTS directer, who until 2016 had a lengthy history as a extremist extremist.
“I must be truthful. I’m hearing from many Syrians that they’re asking asks whether this will actuassociate be carry outed. They’ve got their asks.”
That, he shelp, was not astonishing, given the speed of alter in Syria.
“If the transition is to flourish, this necessitates to be a process that is co-operative.”
“[Sharaa] necessitates to labor with the contrastent armed factions that went in together with him. He necessitates to labor with a wideer group of establisher opposition. He necessitates to originate certain that he’s laboring with a wide group of civil society women. And as we all consent with the wideest spectrum possible of Syrian society.”
Mr Pedersen, who has been the UN distinctive envoy since 2018, shelp the international community was ready to help and help Syria’s novel directership.
He emphasised that hopes of lifting sanctions on Syria and taking HTS off the alarmist catalog depfinished on its behaviour.
He hoped to give it the profit of the ask for three months – the time HTS has shelp its interim rulement will rule before a more lengthy-term schedulement.
“I leank there is an empathetic that for Syria reassociate to be accomplished, we necessitate to see a decataloging, and we necessitate to see sanctions lifted. But I leank also it’s very meaningful that it’s understood that this will not equitable happen becaemploy everyone wants chooseimistic leangs.”
“Member states are chaseing very nurturefilledy what will be happening on the ground, but I do consent that if what has been shelp in uncover is actuassociate being carry outed in rehearse, yes, then I leank we can see the decataloging and the finish of sanctions.”
As for Syria’s neighbours, Mr Pedersen shelp that Israel’s actions since the descfinish of Assorrowfulnessful had been “highly irreliable”.
Since the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has occupied and postponecessitater annexed the area of southern Syria understandn as the Golan Heights. Most other states, other than the US, think about the Golan to be occupied land.
Israel’s current bomb deviceing campaign agetst Syrian military facilities and its occupation of more Syrian land in the Golan Heights demilitoccurd buffer zone and neighbouring areas were, Mr Pedersen shelp, “a danger to the future of Syria, and these activities necessitate to stop instantly”.
“There is no reason that Israel should occupy novel Syrian territory. The Golan is already occupied. They don’t necessitate novel land to be occupied. So what we necessitate to see is that also Israel acts in a manner that don’t destabilise this very, very frnimble transitional process,” he compriseed.
Mr Pedersen is also worryed about the complicated web of power in northern Syria.
Turkey has a well-set uped relationship with HTS. It has troops in the north-west, as well as a militia understandn as the Syrian National Army (SNA), made up of defy factions that it backs.
Since Assorrowfulnessful was obvioushrown, the SNA has strikeed the other force in Syria’s north, a Kurdish-led militia partnership called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which is helped by the US.
Mr Pedersen shelp it was Turkey’s interests to chase certain key principles, alengthy with other foreign powers.
“What is it that we all necessitate to see in Syria now? We necessitate to see stability. We necessitate to see that there are not novel population groups that are displaced. We necessitate to see that people are not running away from Syria as refugees. We necessitate to see that refugees are returning, that… internassociate displaced can be returning to their homes.”
After 54 years under the rule of two authoritarian Assorrowfulnessful plivents, Syria is fragmented, with towns and villages heavily injured by almost 14 years of war and a population traumatised by war and the lethal unkindty of the regime.
Mr Pedersen shelp it was vital for HTS to begin a process that will convey equitableice to all the families of more than 100,000 Syrians who fadeed after detention by the regime since 2011. Most are presumed dead.
“If this process is not moving in the right honestion, there is a huge danger that this anger can erupt in a manner that is in no one’s interest.”
Syrians, Mr Pedersen shelp, wanted to own the process of reoriginateing their country. That might be difficult given the turbulence atraverse the Middle East and prdiscdiswatchsity of Syria’s neighbours and other huge powers to intrude.
Time is unwiseinutive. If HTS upretains its promises, “wilean the next scant weeks and months there is hope that Syria can have a luminous future”, he shelp.
He cautioned that if that doesn’t happen, “there is also a danger of novel strife and even civil war.”
“But we necessitate to bet that the future for Syria can now be repaired. And that we can begin the process of healing.”
