Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the al-Qaeda offshoot terrorist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), addressed the nation on Thursday after formally assuming the presidency and assured Syrians that his top priority is to consolidate power in Damascus.
Sharaa, formerly known by the terrorist moniker “Abu Mohammed al-Jolani,” told the nation that strengthening his group’s stranglehold on power was necessary to, among other goals, “build strong state institutions” and create conditions for “free and fair elections.” He did not indicate when such elections are expected to be held, though in the past he has suggested that it may take as long as four years to rebuild the country and give Syrian refugees time to return home to hold an election.
The “Military Operations Command” of HTS announced on Wednesday a major reshuffling of what has passed as the government of Syria since longtime dictator Bashar Assad fled the country in December, including the appointment of Sharaa as president and dissolution of the Syrian armed forces. The command also announced that it would dissolve HTS itself and any other militias in the country with the intent to rebuild a coherent Syrian military with a monopoly on force.
HTS took over the country after launching a surprise attack on Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city, in late November. The attack exposed the weakness of Assad’s military, as they did not make any meaningful attempt to keep the country, allowing the jihadists to continue their march towards Damascus nearly uncontested. HTS leaders arrived in the capital on December 7 and Assad fled to Russia sometime between late December 7 and the early morning hours of December 8.
Syria experienced nearly 15 years of civil war, beginning in 2011 when Assad brutally repressed protests against his decades-old ruling dynasty. The war allowed for the growth of radical Islamic movements, such as the Islamic State, in territory held by neither Assad nor the rebels, and for groups such as the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) to expand autonomous control outside of Assad’s influence. The chaotic situation crowded the battlefield with as many as ten militias, foreign powers, and other associated actors. The fall of the Islamic State “caliphate” in 2017 slowed the fighting until HTS rekindled the war with its attack on Aleppo seven years later.
HTS ultimately winning the war has spread alarm throughout the world about the fate of Syria’s non-Islamic, non-Arab minorities, as HTS is a radical Islamist terrorist organization. Sharaa has repeatedly claimed that he anticipates the creation of an “inclusive” government but has also defended the creation of an Islamist government, which would by definition exclude Christians and other minorities. Christians have historically faced brutal violence at the hands of Islamist groups in the region and religious persecution experts have urged influential actors to pressure HTS to respect the rights of non-Muslims.
In his speech on Thursday, Sharaa repeated vague claims that he hopes to construct an “inclusive” government
“We will work to form an inclusive transitional government representing Syria’s diversity through its men, women, and youth, tasked with building new Syrian institutions until we reach free and fair elections,” he promised. “Based on my current mandate and the decision to dissolve the People’s Assembly, I will announce a preparatory committee to select a mini legislative council to fill this void in the transitional phase.”
Sharaa said that the rebuilding of Syria would require “genuine participation from all Syrians, both inside and outside … without exclusion or marginalization.”
The HTS warlord listed as his top priorities the prosecution of Assad officials, the consolidation of power, and the building of a “strong economy,” according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA):
To achieve civil peace, and prosecute criminals who have been involved in Syrian blood and committed massacres and crimes against us, whether they hid inside the country or fled outside it, through true transitional justice.
To build strong state institutions, based on efficiency and justice, free of corruption, nepotism, and bribes.
To Lay the foundations of a strong economy that restores Syria’s regional and international position, provides real and decent job opportunities, improves living conditions, and restores lost basic services.
“We will work to form a comprehensive transitional government that expresses the diversity of Syria,” he reiterated, “with its men, women and youth, and will undertake the work of building Syria’s new institutions until we reach a stage of free and fair elections.”
The Emirati newspaper The National focused on Sharaa’s emphasis on consolidating power, promising he would work on “uniting the whole of Syria and bringing it under a single authority, and build institutions based on merit and free of corruption.”
While the Assad regime did not enjoy much support outside of its strongholds in Damascus and Latakia, the rest of the country spent much of the past decade divided between semi-autonomous Kurdish authorities, jihadists such as the Islamic State, and rival militias to HTS. The fate of the Kurdish authorities of northern Syria is a particularly precarious issue as fighting has continued in northern Syria after Assad’s ouster between the Kurds and the “Syrian National Army” (SNA), a jihadist terrorist organization that serves as a proxy for the Turkish government. Ankara considers the Kurdish YPG and YPJ – American allies indispensable to the destruction of the Islamic State “caliphate” – terrorists indistinguishable from the Marxist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a U.S.-designated terrorist group.
Syrian Kurdish leaders have reached out to HTS, seeking cooperation and recognizing the militia as the new, legitimate government of Syria. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), led by the YPG, have also expressed concern to both HTS and American allies that attacks by the SNA have weakened the SDF, creating an opportunity for the Islamic State to regroup.
“ISIS is now stronger in the Syrian desert. Previously, they were in remote areas and hiding, but now they have greater freedom of movement since they face no issues with other groups and are not engaged in conflict with them,” SDF commander Mazloum Abdi said in an interview with the British broadcaster Sky News in December. “In the areas under our control, their activities have also increased. Just a few days ago, three members of the Internal Security Forces were killed near al Hassakah in an ISIS operation.”
To strengthen the HTS concentration of power, the “Military Operations Command” gave Sharaa on Wednesday the power to establish an interim legislature and other government institutions to allow him to govern.
“The President shall be authorized to form a provisional legislative council for the transitional period, which shall carry out its duties until the adoption of a permanent constitution for the country and its entry into force,” the Command said in its statement.
