The militia announced an amnesty for all personnel in Bashar al Assad’s army
▲ Looting of the private residence of deposed Syrian President Bashar al Assad, on Sunday in Damascus.Photo Ap
AFP, Xinhua, Sputnik and Europa Press
La Jornada Newspaper
Tuesday, December 10, 2024, p. 20
Damascus. The leader of the Syrian rebels, the Islamist Abu Mohamed al Jolani, met yesterday with the country’s former prime minister, Mohamed al Jalali, to coordinate the transfer of powerthe day after the fall of Bashar al Assad’s government after a lightning offensive.
Al Jolani, who now uses his real name, Ahmad al Shareh, met with Jalali to coordinate a transition that guarantees the provision of services to the Syrian population, the rebels said in a statement, accompanied by a short video of their interview.
Prime Minister Mohammed Bashir, who heads a salvation government in the rebel stronghold in northwestern Syria, was also present.
The pro-Turkish group Hayat Tahrir Sham (HTS) administered parts of Idlib province and neighboring areas until November 27, when with allied factions it launched an offensive to seize territories from the government and reach Damascus.
Bashir, 41, has been mentioned as the most likely candidate to take over as prime minister in the transition process after the fall of Al Assad.
In the video, Jolani can be heard saying that although Idlib is a small region lacking resourcesthe authorities there They have a high level of experience.
Jalali asserted on Sunday that he is ready to cooperate with whatever leadership the people choose in a transfer of power.
He salvation governmentwhich has ministries, departments, judicial and security authorities, was installed in 2017 to serve the people who lacked government services in that bastion.
Authorities in the area began providing services (water, communications and electricity) in Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city, after it was taken during the rapid offensive.
Meanwhile, the Baath party, of the deposed president, stressed that it supports a transition to defend the unity of the country.
Syrian militia forces that took control of Damascus announced a general amnesty for all army personnel recruited for compulsory service, the official Sana news agency reported.
The amnesty is seen as part of broader reconciliation efforts to reintegrate military personnel who may have been captured or fled during the fall of Bashar al Assad’s government.
At the moment, there are no further details about the amnesty or its impact.
In this context, thousands of Syrians returned to the country from Türkiye and Lebanon, reported the spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Shabia Mantoo.
UNHCR is aware of Syrians who were displaced from other regions of the country and are currently returning to their places of origin in Syria. He also knows about the thousands returning from Lebanon and Türkiye.
He specified that the UNHCR is committed to meeting their needs, to the extent that it is operationally possible.
A devastated country
Mantoo added that many are returning to destroyed homes and a country devastated by conflict, where more than 90 percent of Syrians need some form of humanitarian assistance.
Turkey will also reopen a border post closed since 2013. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that the Yayladagi border crossing, in Hatay province, will be reopened to manage the safe and voluntary return of the millions of Syrian migrants hosted by Ankara.
Finally, the flag of the Syrian opposition – three horizontal stripes: green at the top, white with three red stars in the middle and black at the bottom – was raised in the embassies of the Arab nation in some European capitals.