[IsraelTimes] Rebel leader al-Golani touts experience of administration over small Idlib region; Tehran insider claims Assad became a burden, regime leaked location of Iranian commanders
Syrian rebels on Monday said they would grant amnesty to conscripted soldiers who fought for ousted president Bashir al-Assad’s regime, as their leader began setting up a transitional government.
The amnesty granted by the rebels will not apply to officers, according to the statement posted on Telegram by the Military Operations Command, the joint operations room of opposition factions that led the lightning-fast offensive that ousted Assad.
The leader of the rebels, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, now using his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, met with outgoing Syrian prime minister Mohammed al-Jalali and discussed the "transfer of power," the rebels said.
A short video of the meeting showed it was also attended by Mohammed al-Bashir, who headed the rebels’ "Salvation Government" in their northwest Syria bastion and who was tapped as the acting prime minister.
Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
HTS had been administering swaths of Idlib province and parts of neighboring areas until November 27, when it led a lightning offensive, seizing government-held territory and capturing Damascus on Sunday.
In the video, Golani was heard telling the outgoing prime minister that although "Idlib is a small region lacking resources," authorities there "have a very high level of experience after starting with nothing."
Jalali said Sunday he was ready to "cooperate" with any leadership chosen by the people and for any handover process. He said the handover could take days to carry out.
Assad’s Baath party said Monday it will back the process.
"We will remain supportive of a transitional phase in Syria aimed at defending the unity of the country," party Secretary-General Ibrahim al-Hadid said in a statement.
The Salvation Government, which has ministries, departments and judicial and security authorities, was set up in 2017 to assist people cut off from government services in the stronghold.
Authorities from the area have already started returning services including water, communications, and power to Syria’s second city Aleppo after the rebels seized it in their lightning offensive.
Meanwhile,
...back at the pie fight, Bella opened her mouth at precisely the wrong moment...
Syria’s banks will reopen on Tuesday and staff have been asked to return to offices, according to a Syrian central bank source and two commercial bankers.
At the Interior Ministry that ran Assad’s police force, furniture had been looted and staff stayed away. Armed rebels were there to maintain order.
The oil ministry called on all employees in the sector to head to their workplaces starting on Tuesday, adding that protection would be provided to ensure their safety.
The advance of a militia alliance spearheaded by HTS, a former al-Qaeda affiliate, was a generational turning point for the Middle East.
It ended a war that killed hundreds of thousands, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times, and left cities bombed to rubble, the countryside depopulated and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions. Refugees could finally go home from camps across The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund...
, Leb
 ...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
and Jordan.
The United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
said that whoever ends up in power in Syria must hold the Assad regime to account. But how Assad might face justice remains unclear, especially after the Kremlin refused on Monday to confirm reports by Russian news agencies that he had fled to Moscow.
Iran, another key ally that provided military support for Assad’s brutal crackdown on his opposition, said it expected its "friendly" ties with Syria to continue, with its foreign minister saying the ousted president "never asked" for Tehran’s help against the rebel offensive.
An insider in Iran’s government told the Financial Times Monday that Assad had become "an obstacle, a liability — some even called him a betrayer," citing inaction toward reported Israeli strikes on Iranian targets inside Syria.
"People within his regime were leaking information about the whereabouts of Iranian commanders," the insider claimed. "Assad turned his back on us when we needed him most."
Despite the fall of Assad, conflict was at risk of persisting, with the US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces (SDF) saying they were still fighting Ottoman Turkish-backed rebels in the northern Syrian city of Manbij.
The SDF said a Ottoman Turkish drone struck in the village of al-Mistriha in eastern Syria, killing 12 civilians, including six children.
Turkey views the SDF, which is primarily composed of a Syrian Kurdish militia, as an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkey. The SDF has also been a key ally of the United States in the war against the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group.
Ottoman Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Monday expressed hope for a new era in Syria in which ethnic and religious groups can live peacefully under an inclusive government. But he warned against allowing Islamic State or Kurdish fighters to take advantage of the situation, saying Turkey will prevent Syria from turning into a "haven for terrorism."
Syrian rebel leader says he will announce list of former officials wanted for torture
[IsraelTimes] Syria’s Islamist rebel leader says that the incoming authorities will announce a list of former senior officials “involved in torturing the Syrian people.”
“We will offer rewards to anyone who provides information about senior army and security officers involved in war crimes,” rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, now using his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, says in a statement on Telegram.
The rebel leader began discussions yesterday with the ousted government on transferring power, a day after his opposition alliance dramatically unseated president Bashar al-Assad following decades of brutal rule.
“We will not hesitate to hold accountable the criminals, murderers, security and army officers involved in torturing the Syrian people,” Sharaa says in the statement, adding they “will pursue war criminals and ask for their hand over from the countries to which they fled.”
“We have affirmed our commitment to tolerance for those whose hands are not stained with the blood of the Syrian people, and we have granted amnesty to those who were in compulsory service,” he says.
Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group had been administering swathes of Idlib province and parts of neighboring areas until November 27, when along with allied factions it launched a lightning offensive, seizing government-held territory and capturing Damascus on Sunday.
Syrian insurgents say they won’t impose dress codes on women or limit personal freedoms
[IsraelTimes] Syrian insurgents who toppled President Bashar Assad say they will not impose any religious dress code on women and vowed to guarantee personal freedom for everyone.
In a statement posted on social media, the insurgents’ General Command says, “It is strictly forbidden to interfere with women’s dress or impose any request related to their clothing or appearance, including requests for modesty.”
The command says it affirms that personal freedom is guaranteed to everyone, and that respect for the rights of individuals is the basis for building a civilized nation.
In areas that were controlled by Syrian opposition groups since the civil war erupted in 2011, the vast majority of women dressed modestly, only revealing their faces and hands.
Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the militant leader whose forces entered Damascus over the weekend, has renounced longtime ties to al-Qaida and depicted himself as a champion of pluralism and tolerance. |
[IsraelTimes] The World Bank says that the $15.5 million Syria owed it has been paid off by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, clearing Damascus to take out new loans.
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...