Fuad Walid
Itayim
For years, many
speculated what Syria—a country with deep religious and cultural
diversity—would look like if the armed, extremist-dominated opposition managed
to overthrow Bashar al-Assad’s government.
Early in the
war, even Assad’s staunchest critics began to grasp the grim reality: the
alternative to his authoritarian rule would be far worse. Now, with the
collapse of his government, that bleak scenario has come to pass, and Syria is
witnessing the consequences of this radical shift in power.
On 29 January,
the Military Operations Department of the de facto government in Syria
announced that Ahmad al-Sharaa—previously known by his nom de guerre Abu
Mohammad al-Julani—would assume the presidency of the country during a
“transitional phase.”
The announcement
included the suspension of the country’s constitution and the dissolution of
the previously ruling Baath Party, the People’s Assembly, the former national
army, security services, and all armed factions—including Sharaa’s own Hayat
Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the former Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria.
Giving a speech
at this so-called “Victory Conference” was Ahmad al-Hayes, also known as Abu
Hatem Shaqra, the leader of the Ahrar al-Sharqiya faction of the Turkish-backed
Syrian National Army (SNA) force—an organization responsible for numerous war
crimes.
With this, the
world was forced to ask: Who are the key figures now ruling Syria, and what
does this mean for its future?
To understand
today’s events, it is necessary to rewind a decade. In 2015, the northwestern
city of Idlib fell to the Nusra Front, which U.S. official Brett McGurk once
described as the “largest Al-Qaeda safe haven” in the world. While other parts
of Syria saw different terror organizations come and go, lose ground and gain
ground, and eventually get defeated by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its
allies over the years—Idlib remained under the control of the Nusra Front.
In 2015, the
Nusra Front was rebranded into Jaish al-Fatah. The following year, it was
rebranded again into Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and severed relations with Al-Qaeda
in an attempt to legitimize itself. It finally became known as HTS in 2017.
This was all
done with Qatari support and with the help of the Syria-based Saudi Wahhabi
cleric Abdullah al-Muhaysni, who sent teenagers on suicide missions and was
responsible for the recruitment of thousands upon thousands of extremist
militants. He is now roaming freely across Syria, giving speeches.
HTS set up a
political administration in the ‘liberated’ Idlib governorate and began its
rule—creating the prototype for the government that now rules the majority of
the country, including Damascus.
In December
2024, the unthinkable happened. After an 11-day lightning offensive, HTS-led
fighters stormed Damascus, toppling Assad’s government. With foreign backing,
notably from Turkiye and, more recently, Ukraine, along with strategic deceit,
the former Al-Qaeda offshoot achieved what no faction before it had: seizing
control of Syria’s capital and claiming rule over the country.
A government
appointed and led by such an organization could only consist of a wide array of
questionable characters. The following are some of the most prominent figures
leading the new Syria.
The newly
announced President of Syria, Ahmad al-Sharaa
In an earlier
life, HTS’s leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, had studied media briefly and then joined
the medicine faculty at Damascus University before leaving to join Al-Qaeda in
Iraq (AQI) following the 2003 U.S. invasion.
His notorious
resume includes being the former deputy to ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi back
when the infamous terror group was known as the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI).
Sharaa was dispatched by Baghdadi in 2011 to enter the war against Assad’s
government in Syria, where he took part in the launching of deadly suicide
attacks against both security personnel and civilians before founding the Nusra
Front in 2012.
The Nusra Front,
which was Al-Qaeda’s official branch in the Levant, would go on to terrorize
both the Syrian and Lebanese people for years under Sharaa’s leadership. During
his days in Iraq, Sharaa started as a member of ISI’s precursor, AQI—itself
responsible for many indiscriminate attacks, including bombings of religious
sites and the killing of civilians and worshippers—in an effort to trigger a
sectarian war.
After his
release from the U.S.-run Camp Bucca in 2008, where he had been detained
alongside Baghdadi and many future ISIS leaders, Sharaa served as ISI’s Emir of
Mosul—a period that witnessed many killings and kidnappings of Christians and
Yazidis.
After assuming
leadership of Syria in December 2024, the Iraqi judiciary issued an arrest
warrant for Sharaa. Sources cited by Shafaq news agency said detainees in Iraq
had confessed to crimes that involved him personally. Yet Sharaa is now sitting
down with international leaders, including U.S. and European officials. After
he met with a delegation from Washington in Damascus last month, a U.S. terror
designation and $10 million dollar bounty for Sharaa’s capture was swiftly
lifted.
The new
unelected Syrian president has recently held meetings with the head of the
International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, Lebanon’s caretaker prime
minister Najib Mikati, and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani — the first
head of state to meet with the former Nusra leader. His meeting with Mikati was
a shock and disappointment to many Lebanese who remember the Nusra Front’s
crimes against the country, such as deadly suicide attacks, kidnappings and
executions of Lebanese soldiers, and the infiltration and occupation of the
country’s territory near the Syrian border.
Extremists
leading Syria’s new army
The so-called
Syrian Armed Forces now include non-Syrian commanders, many of them veterans of
Al-Qaeda and ISIS. Sharaa has declared that the foreign militants “should be
celebrated” as “part of the movement that led to the downfall of Assad.” He has
also said that the foreign fighters who remain in Syria could potentially be
granted Syrian citizenship.
Abdulaziz Dawood
Khudaberdi, a Chinese Uyghur militant from the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP),
has been appointed brigadier-general.
TIP is an Uyghur
militant organization that has fought under HTS’s command for years. Its
fighters illegally entered Syria post-2011, like the tens of thousands of other
foreign fighters from numerous different nations who came to the country to
fight against the former state.
TIP has called
for the establishment of an Islamic state in parts of China and central Asia,
and is seen by Beijing as a serious threat to its interests and security.
Another two Uyghur fighters, Mawlan Tarsoun Abdussamad and Abdulsalam Yasin
Ahmad, have been made colonels.
Turkish citizen
Omar Mohammed Jaftashi and Jordanian citizen Abdul Rahman Hussein al-Khatib
have also been made brigadier-generals.
Additionally,
Tajik fighter Saifiddin Tojiboev, wanted in his home country, Tajikistan, for
membership in terrorist organizations and the recruitment of extremist
militants, according to an anonymous Tajik law enforcement source cited by
Radio Free Europe (RFE), was appointed as a colonel.
Abdul Jashari,
an Albanian extremist, now holds the rank of colonel. Omar Mohammed Jaftashi, a
Turkish citizen, has been made a brigadier-general. And the list goes on.
Syrian Justice
Minister, Shadi Mohammad al-Waisi
Shadi Mohammad
al-Waisi, made justice minister in December, was formerly a judge in the Nusra
Front and holds a degree in Islamic Sharia. He is currently pursuing a master’s
degree in Islamic Studies. In 2011, he helped found the Sharia Authority in
Aleppo’s Daharat Awad district, where he served as a judge before taking part
in the creation of the Four-Party Sharia Authority in Aleppo in 2012.
Waisi continued
to rise in rank, serving as a military penal judge, an appeals judge, and a
public prosecutor. He also headed many courts in Aleppo during the years of the
Nusra Front’s violent rule in the ancient city.
Recently,
verified videos emerged of Waisi overseeing the public execution of women
accused of prostitution and adultery in 2015, drawing nowhere near enough
condemnation and going largely unnoticed in mainstream media.
An official from
the new government told the news verification outlet Verify-Sy that the footage
“documents the enforcement of the law at a specific time and place, where the
procedures were carried out in accordance with the laws in effect at that time,”
and that it “reflects a stage we have moved beyond, in light of the current
legal and procedural transformations, which makes it inappropriate to
generalize it or use it to describe the current stage, given the differing
circumstances and references.” Of course, the justice minister will not be
brought to justice for his crimes.
Syrian Defense
Minister, Murhaf Abu Qasra
Murhaf Abu
Qasra, also known as Abu Hassan 600, was appointed minister of defense after
the fall of Assad’s government. He holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural
engineering, has been a top leader in HTS’s military wing for several years,
and was responsible for the group’s drone unit, known as the Shaheen Brigades.
Upon assuming
his role as defense minister, reports have emerged regarding Abu Qasra’s
involvement in numerous crimes and atrocities: 20 premeditated murders, 15
armed robberies, 12 amputations, 150 executions of Shias, Christians, and
atheists, 15 cases of stoning to death, and 10 cases of rape of female captives
(HTS, under its different names over the years, has taken its fair share of
captives—and has even kidnapped nuns).
In this bizarre
video, Mr. 600 is seen smiling and standing next to a medieval-looking
character holding a sword and yelling the derogatory term for Alawites,
“Nusayriyah.”
Syrian
Intelligence Chief, Anas Hassan Khattab
Anas Hassan
Khattab, a co-founder of the Nusra Front alongside Sharaa and Syria’s new
Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani, has been appointed the head of
Syrian intelligence. He studied architecture at the Damascus University before
leaving for Iraq in 2008, where he went to “fight against the U.S. occupation,”
according to Syria TV.
Khattab, also
known as Abu Ahmed Hudood, was blacklisted as a terrorist by the UN Security
Council in September 2014 for his close association with Al-Qaeda—particularly
AQI.
According to the
listing, he was for several years involved “in the financing, planning,
facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in
conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of” and
“otherwise supporting acts or activities of” the Nusra Front.
Khattab was also
sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2012 for his ties to Al-Qaeda.
Syria’s new intel chief served as the administrative Emir of the Nusra Front as
of early 2014 and was part of its Shura Council by mid-2013. He was also tasked
with selecting personal bodyguards for Sharaa.
In recent years,
Khattab oversaw general security operations in Idlib. His involvement in
intelligence gathering dates back to the period when HTS consolidated control
over northern Syria with Turkish support.
During this
time, he managed surveillance of covert networks along the borders of
HTS-controlled areas. According to an investigative report by Enab Baladi last
year, Sharaa used to rely on Khattab for “internal security files and the
elimination of opponents.”
Women’s Affairs
Chief, Aisha al-Debs
As part of
efforts to foster inclusivity, Aisha al-Debs was appointed Women’s Affairs
chief. She holds a master’s degree in business administration from the Damascus
University. While not much is known about her, Debs—a dual Turkish-Syrian
citizen who lived in Turkiye for ten years—proclaimed honestly during a recent
interview with TRT how she plans to carry out her work, stating, “I will not
allow space for those who differ with me ideologically.”
She added that
Syria “previously suffered from training programs by foreign organizations”
which harmed women and children and led to higher divorce rates. Debs went on
to say that women are “primarily responsible for their families, husbands, and
priorities.”
She also said
Syria’s new administration aims to “create a model suited to the reality and
circumstances of Syrian women,” which would be based on Islamic Sharia.
Sectarian
carnage and zero ‘democracy’
Western
diplomats and foreign delegation have been rushing to engage with HTS—which has
touted its commitment to inclusivity and minority rights. Yet the reality on
the ground is starkly different. Executions, sectarian purges, and desecration
of religious sites have become routine.
In the first
month of HTS rule, 150 Alawites were killed, hundreds of people arrested and
subjected to torture, and Christians were expelled from the town of Maaloula.
Christmas trees have been burned in public squares, and videos have circulated
showing Alawites being humiliated and forced to bark like dogs.
Sharaa and other
officials have promised to unify Syria, vowing to protect minorities and punish
“individual” actors for any transgressions against Christians, Alawites, Shias,
and others, but there are precious few indications that this is happening.
“We know the
ideological affiliation of HTS and what it has done in the past, but we also
hear and see the desire for moderation and understanding with other important
parties. We came to Syria with an outstretched hand and clear expectations from
the new administration, and the administration will be judged by its actions,”
said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her visit to Syria on 3
January, where she met with Sharaa and officials from the new government.
If the new Syria
remains on this path—the HTS-led government may not last. Under such
conditions, the Syrian people will not accept an administration of extremists,
given its apparent inability to build a unified and diverse country.
People have
already begun to take up arms, including former elements and supporters of the
old Syrian army. There have also been reports of Christians fighting back
against HTS.
Until then,
Syria remains hostage to a government born from Al-Qaeda, one that the west now
appears disturbingly willing to engage with.
No comments:
Post a Comment