War-weary villages in Lebanon’s south find hope in Christmas festivities

HASSAKEH, Syria: The commander of the main US-backed force in Syria said Sunday the recent ouster of the Assad family from power should be followed by building a secular, civil and decentralized state that treats all its citizens equally no matter their religion or ethnicity.
The commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abdi, said in an interview Sunday that he recently met with Syria’s newly named interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa in Damascus. He said the two sides are negotiating with the help of mediators to find compromises regarding Syria’s future — including the future of the Kurds.
Abdi added that US troops should stay in Syria because the Daesh group will benefit from a withdrawal, which would affect the security of the whole region.
A new leader chosen after the fall of Assad
The Assad family’s 54-year rule in Syria came to an end in early December when insurgents led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS, captured Damascus. The fall of Bashar Assad on Dec. 8. came after a nearly 14-year conflict that has killed half a million people and displaced half the country’s population.
Syrian factions that toppled Assad met in Damascus last week and named HTS leader Al-Sharaa as the country’s interim president. The groups suspended the country’s constitution adopted by Assad in 2012 and officially dissolved the army and Syria’s dreaded security agencies.
“The fall of the regime was a historic step and based on that a new Syria should be built without restoring the Baath party or its ideology,” Abdi said referring to Assad’s once ruling Baath party that was also dissolved last week. “We want to move Syria forward together.”
‘The matter was not discussed with us’
Asked about the meeting in Damascus last week in which Al-Sharaa was named interim president while the parliament, constitution and the army were dissolved, Abdi said: “We were not present there and we will not comment.”
“The matter was not discussed with us,” Abdi said adding that there are negotiations between Al-Sharaa and the SDF and “our stance will be based on the results of the negotiations.”
Abdi said that visits by SDF officials to Damascus will continue to try to reach an understanding with the new authorities. “We will continuously try to see how Syria of the future will look like,” Abdi said, adding that the vision of the SDF is based on dialogue and understanding.
Abdi revealed that members of the US-led coalition to fight the Daesh group, including the US, Britain and France, are mediating between the SDF and authorities in Damascus. He did not go into details.
Abdi said his group wants Syria to remain a united country with a central government in Damascus.
“Our vision of Syria is a decentralized, secular and civil country based on democracy that preserves the rights of all of its components,” he said referring to the country’s different religious groups, such as Sunni Muslims, Christians, Alawites, Druze and Yazidis and ethnic groups such as Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen and Armenians.
“Syria is mixed and is not made up of Sunnis only. There are other identities,” Abdi said referring to the country’s Sunni Muslims who are the majority in the country. There have been concerns that HTS, which is rooted in the Salafi-jihadi ideology, might be working on turning Syria into an Islamic state, although in recent years Al-Sharaa has distanced himself from the group’s earlier stances and preached religious coexistence.
Kurds want a decentralized state but not autonomy
Abdi said the Kurds of Syria do not want to break away from the country or set up their own autonomous government and parliament as is the case in northern Iraq. He said the people of northeast Syria want to run their local affairs in a decentralized state.
“Syria is not Iraq and Iraq is not Syria and northeast Syria is not (Iraq’s) Kurdistan,” Abdi, whose forces control 25 percent of Syria, said.
Most of the country’s former insurgent factions have agreed to dissolve and to become part of the new army and security services, although it remained unclear exactly how that will work in practice. The SDF has not so far agreed to dissolve.
Asked whether he is ready to dissolve the SDF, Abdi said that in principle they want to be part of the defense ministry and part of Syria’s defense strategy. He said the details still need to be discussed and they have sent a proposal regarding this issue to Damascus and “we are waiting for the response.”
He said the SDF fighters have been fighting IS for 12 years and the rights of his fighters should be guaranteed.
US troops should stay in Syria
Speaking about IS, which his group played a major role in defeating, Abdi said that the extremists took advantage after the fall of Assad and captured large amounts of weapons from posts abandoned by Assad’s forces.
Abdi said US troops should stay in Syria because they are needed in the fight against IS.
In 2019, President Donald Trump decided on a partial withdrawal of US troops form the northeast before he halted the plans. “The reason for them (US troops) to stay is still present because Daesh is still strong,” Abdi said, using an Arabic acronym to refer to IS.
“We hope that the coalition does not withdraw,” Abdi said, adding that they are not aware of any US plans to withdraw from Syria. “We ask them to stay.”

DAMASCUS: The ousting of Bashar Assad ended decades of iron-fisted rule, but despite power now resting in Ahmed Al-Sharaa’s hands, Syria faces a fragile transition amid territorial and governance challenges.
Military commanders appointed Sharaa interim president weeks after Islamist-led rebel forces overran Damascus.
His nomination has been welcomed by key regional players Egypt, Qatar, Turkiye and Saudi Arabia.
Syrians are “now fully dependant” on the intentions of the new authorities over the future of their country, said Damascus-based lawyer Ezzedine Al-Rayeq.
“Will they really take the country toward democracy, human rights?” he asked.
Sharaa led the Islamist Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham group, which spearheaded the rebel offensive that toppled Assad on December 8.
The group and other factions have been dissolved, with fighters set to be integrated into a future national force.
Sharaa has now traded his fatigues for a suit and a tie.
In his first address as president Thursday, he vowed to “form a broad transitional government, representative of Syria’s diversity” that will “build the institutions of a new Syria” and work toward “free and transparent elections.”
Sharaa had already been acting as the country’s leader before Wednesday’s appointment, which followed a closed-door meeting with faction leaders who backed the overthrow of Assad.
Rayeq said he wished the presidential nomination had been made “in a more democratic, participatory way.”
Authorities have pledged to hold a national dialogue conference involving all Syrians, but have yet to set a date.
“We thought that the national conference would see the creation of (new) authorities and allow the election of a president — perhaps Sharaa, or someone else,” Rayeq said.
“But if we are realistic and pragmatic, (appointing Sharaa) was perhaps the only way forward,” said Rayeq, who since Assad’s fall has helped found an initiative on human rights and political participation.

Authorities have suspended the constitution and dissolved parliament, while the army and security services collapsed after decades of Baath party rule.
Ziad Majed, a Syria expert and author on the Assad family’s rule, said Sharaa’s appointment “could have been negotiated differently.”
“It’s as if the heads” of the different armed groups chose Sharaa, Majed said, while noting the leader was effectively “already acting as a transitional president.”
Sharaa said his appointment followed “intense consultations” with legal advisers, promising a “constitutional declaration” and a “limited legislative council.”
Majed said most armed groups “recognize Sharaa’s leadership,” but noted unresolved tensions with fighters in the south and northeast.
Armed groups in the southern province of Sweida, including from the Druze minority, have been cautious about the new authorities, though two groups said last month they were ready to join a national army.
In the north and northeast, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces from a semi-autonomous Kurdish administration have been battling pro-Turkiye fighters.
Syria’s new rulers, also backed by Ankara, have urged the SDF to hand over its weapons, rejecting any Kurdish self-rule.
Majed said he expected “Sharaa and those close to him” to seek to “consolidate territorial control and control over armed groups,” but that other priorities would include reviving the war-battered economy.
He also cited sectarian challenges and the need for efforts to avoid “acts of revenge,” particularly against members of the Alawite community, from which the Assads hail.

Lawyer Rayeq said he supported grouping Syria’s ideologically diverse armed groups “under a single authority, whatever it is.”
If such a move were successful, “we will have put the civil war behind us,” he said.
Assad’s toppling has finally allowed Syrians to speak without fear, after years of repression, but concerns remain.
Dozens of Syrian writers, artists and academics have signed a petition urging “the restoration of fundamental public freedoms, foremost among them the freedoms of assembly, protest, expression and belief.”
The petition also called for the right to form independent political parties and said the state must not “interfere in people’s customs,” amid fears Islamic law could be imposed.
Spare car parts seller Majd, 35, said the authorities’ recent announcements were “positive,” but expressed concern about the economy.
“Prices have gone down, but people don’t have money,” he told AFP from a Damascus park with his family, noting hundreds of thousands of civil servants had been suspended from work since Assad’s overthrow.
Near the capital’s famous Ummayad square, vendors were selling Syrian flags, some bearing Sharaa’s image.
“It’s too early to judge the new leadership,” Majd said, giving only his first name.
He said he preferred to wait to see the “results on the ground.”