The UN special envoy said Syria’s new leaders must keep their promises on rights

According to UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen, it is important that Syria’s new leadership keeps its promise to respect the rights of all of the country’s diverse religious and ethnic groups.

Mr 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 all they can to create stability in the country.

Bashar al-Assad regime was ousted less than two weeks ago by a rebel alliance led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, known as HTS, a Sunni Muslim group that claims to have rejected its radical jihadist past since splitting from al-Qaeda in 2016.

HTS is listed as a terrorist organization by the United Nations, the US, the EU, the UK and other countries.

Symbolically, its leader dropped his wartime pseudonym Abu Mohammed al-Jolani and returned to his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa.

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

Mr Pedersen said Sharaa had said “many positive things”. However, he said, some Syrians do not trust the HTS leader, who until 2016 had a long history as a jihadist extremist.

“I have to be honest. I hear many Syrians say they are questioning whether this will actually be done. They have doubts.”

That’s not surprising, he said, given the pace of change in Syria.

“If the transition is to be successful, it needs to be a collaborative process.”

“[Sharaa] it was necessary to work with the various armed factions that joined him. He needs to work with a broader former opposition group. He needs to make sure he is working with a large group of women from civil society. And as we all agree to the widest possible scope of Syrian society.”

Mr. Pedersen, a special envoy to the United Nations since 2018, said the international community is ready to help and support Syria’s new leadership.

He emphasized that hopes of lifting sanctions on Syria and removing HTS from the terrorist list depend on the organization’s behavior.

He hopes to give the benefit of the doubt in three months – when HTS says its interim government will rule before a longer-term deal is in place.

“I think everyone understands that for Syria to be truly successful, we need to see delisting and we need to see sanctions lifted. But I also think it’s very important to understand that This won’t just happen because everyone wants a positive outcome.” things.”

“Member states are watching very carefully what happens on the ground, but I believe that if what has been said in public is actually implemented in practice then I think we could see delisting and ending sanctions. “

As for Syria’s neighbors, Mr. Pedersen said that Israel’s actions since Assad’s fall have been “extremely irresponsible.”

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

Mr. Pedersen said that Israel’s current bombing campaign targeting Syrian military facilities and its occupation of additional Syrian land in the demilitarized buffer zone of the Golan Heights and surrounding areas are “a danger.” dangerous to Syria’s future and these activities must stop immediately.”

“There is no reason for Israel to occupy new Syrian territory. The Golan Heights is already occupied. They do not need new land to occupy. So what we need to see is Israel also acting in a way that is not destabilizing the situation.” The transition process is very fragile,” he added.

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

Türkiye has a longstanding 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’s ouster, the SNA has attacked another force in northern Syria, a Kurdish-led militia alliance known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that is supported by the US.

Mr. Pedersen said it was in Türkiye’s interest to adhere to certain basic principles, along with other foreign powers.

“What is it that we all need to see in Syria now? We need to see stability. We need to see that there are no new populations being displaced. We need to see that people are not fleeing from Syria as refugees. We need to see that refugees are returning, that internally displaced people can return to their homes.”

After 54 years of rule by two dictatorial presidents Assad, Syria is divided, with towns and villages devastated by nearly 14 years of war and people traumatized by war and destruction. The regime’s deadly evil.

Mr. Pedersen said it is important for HTS to begin a process that brings justice to all the families of the more than 100,000 Syrians who have disappeared after being detained by the regime since 2011. Most are believed to have died. die.

“If this process doesn’t move in the right direction, there’s a huge risk that this anger could flare up in a way that’s not in anyone’s best interest.”

Mr. Pedersen said Syrians want to take control of the process of rebuilding their country. That could be difficult given the chaos across the Middle East and the tendency of Syria’s neighbors and other powers to intervene.

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

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

“But we need to bet that Syria’s future can now be stabilized. And we can begin the process of healing.”