Syria’s new leaders must keep their rights promises, says UN envoy

It is vital that Syria’s new leadership fulfills its promises to respect the rights of all the country’s diverse religious and ethnic groups, according to UN special envoy Geir Pedersen.

Pedersen, speaking to the BBC in Damascus, said Syrians were experiencing “a lot of hope and a lot of fear… at the same time.”

He called on all parties, inside and outside Syria, to do everything possible to create stability in the country.

Bashar al-Assad’s regime was overthrown less than two weeks ago by a rebel coalition led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, known as HTS, a Sunni Islamist group that claims to have repudiated its jihadist extremist past since splitting from Al Qaeda in 2016.

HTS is designated as a terrorist organization by the UN, US, EU, UK and others.

Symbolically, its leader has abandoned his wartime pseudonym of Abu Mohammed al-Jolani and He reverted to his real name of Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Sunni Muslims are the majority in Syria, which has a strong secular tradition. Sharaa insists that HTS is a religious nationalist movement willing to tolerate other groups.

Pedersen said Sharaa has said “a lot of positive things.” But some Syrians, he said, did not believe the HTS leader, who until 2016 had a long history as a jihadist extremist.

“I have to be honest. I hear from many Syrians who wonder if this will really be implemented. They have their doubts.”

That, he said, was not surprising, given the speed of change in Syria.

“For the transition to be successful, it must be a cooperative process.”

“(Sharaa) needs to work with the different armed factions that accompanied him. He needs to work with a broader group of former opponents. He needs to make sure he works with a broad group of women from civil society. And since we all agree with the spectrum broadest possible view of Syrian society.

Pedersen, who has been a UN special envoy since 2018, said the international community was ready to help and support Syria’s new leadership.

He stressed that hopes of lifting sanctions on Syria and removing HTS from the terrorist list depend on his behavior.

He had hoped to give it the benefit of the doubt for three months, the length of time HTS has said its interim government will govern ahead of a longer-term deal.

“I think there is an understanding that for Syria to really be successful, we need to have it delisted and sanctions lifted. But I think it’s also very important to understand that this is not going to happen simply because everyone wants positive things. things.”

“Member states are following very carefully what will happen on the ground, but I think that if what has been said in public is actually implemented in practice, yes, then I think we will be able to see the delisting and the end of the sanctions.”

Turning to Syria’s neighbors, Pedersen said Israel’s actions since the fall of Assad had been “highly irresponsible.”

Since the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has occupied and subsequently annexed the area of ​​southern Syria known as the Golan Heights. Most states other than the United States consider the Golan to be occupied land.

Israel’s ongoing bombing campaign against Syrian military facilities and its occupation of more Syrian territory in the demilitarized buffer zone of the Golan Heights and neighboring areas were, Pedersen said, “a danger to the future of Syria, and these activities must cease immediately.”

“There is no reason why Israel should occupy new Syrian territory. The Golan is already occupied. They do not need new land to be occupied. So what we need to see is that Israel also acts in a way that does not destabilize this very transitional process. , very fragile,” he added.

Pedersen is also concerned about the complex web of power in northern Syria.

Türkiye has a well-established relationship with HTS. It has troops in the northwest, as well as a militia known as the Syrian National Army (SNA), made up of rebel factions it backs.

Since Assad was overthrown, the SNA has attacked the other force in northern Syria, a Kurdish-led militia alliance called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is supported by the United States.

Pedersen said it was in Turkey’s interest to follow certain key principles, along with other foreign powers.

“What do we all need to see in Syria now? We need to see stability. We need to see that there are no new displaced population groups. We need to see that people are not fleeing Syria as refugees. We need to see that refugees are returning, that … internally displaced persons can return to their homes.”

After 54 years under the rule of two authoritarian Assad presidents, Syria is fragmented, with cities and towns severely damaged by nearly 14 years of war and a population traumatized by the war and the regime’s deadly cruelty.

Pedersen said it was vital that HTS began a process that would bring justice to all the families of more than 100,000 Syrians who have disappeared after being detained by the regime since 2011. Most are presumed dead.

“If this process does not move in the right direction, there is a huge danger that this anger will explode in a way that benefits no one.”

Syrians, Pedersen said, wanted to take ownership of their country’s reconstruction process. That could be difficult given the turbulence across the Middle East and the propensity of Syria’s neighbors and other great powers to interfere.

Time is short. If HTS keeps its promises, “in the coming weeks and months there is hope that Syria can have a bright future,” he said.

He warned that if that does not happen, “there is also the danger of new conflicts and even civil war.”

“But we must bet that Syria’s future can now be fixed. And that we can begin the healing process.”