DAMASCUS, Syria: Syria’s interim government vowed on Thursday to institute the “rule of law” after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad, as the United States warned against any action that risked triggering further conflict.
Assad fled Syria after a lightning offensive spearheaded by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group and its allies, which brought a sudden end to five decades of rule of Assad’s family.
The new government’s spokesman told AFP on Thursday that the country’s constitution and parliament would be suspended for the duration of a three-month transition.
“A judicial and human rights committee will be established to examine the constitution and then introduce amendments,” Obaida Arnaout said.
Speaking at the state television headquarters, Arnaout said they would institute the “rule of law”.
“All those who committed crimes against the Syrian people will be judged in accordance with the law,” he added.
Asked about religious and personal freedoms, he said “we respect religious and cultural diversity in Syria”.
US Warns Against Additional Conflicts
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was in Jordan on Thursday, said it was “really important at this time that we all try to make sure that we’re not sparking any additional conflicts.”
He made the comments after mentioning recent Israeli military activity on Syrian soil.
The US hopes to ensure that Syria is not “used as a base for terrorism” and does not pose “a threat to its neighbours”, Blinken added.
On Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor reported Israeli strikes near Damascus, where loud explosions were heard, AFP reported.
Blinken said the Israeli air strikes aim “to try to make sure that the military equipment that’s been abandoned by the Syrian army doesn’t fall into the wrong hands”.
The top US diplomat also said Washington was “working to bring home” American Travis Timmerman, after Syria’s new leadership announced he had been released.
The Syrian leadership said it was ready to cooperate with Washington to look for US citizens disappeared under Assad, including on an “ongoing” search for US journalist Austin Tice, who was abducted in 2012.
Calls for ‘Inclusive’ Transition
Also on Thursday, leaders of the Group of Seven powers said they were ready to support the transition to an “inclusive and non-sectarian” government in Syria.
They called for the protection of human rights, including those of women and minorities, while emphasising “the importance of holding the Assad regime accountable for its crimes”.
The new rulers have also pledged justice for the victims of Assad’s rule, with HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa vowing that officials involved in torturing detainees will not be pardoned.
Sharaa also urged “countries to hand over any of those criminals who may have fled so they can be brought to justice”.
UN investigators said they have compiled secret lists of 4,000 perpetrators of serious crimes in Syria since the early days of the country’s civil war.
“It is very important that the top level perpetrators are brought to justice,” Linnea Arvidsson, who coordinates the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria, told AFP.
Starting to Feel Safe
The UN’s World Food Programme meanwhile called for $250 million for food assistance for displaced and vulnerable people in Syria over the next six months.
The Baath party of the deposed president meanwhile announced it would suspend its work “in all its forms… until further notice” and hand over assets to the authorities.
The alliance of groups, led by HTS, launched their offensive on November 27, the same day that a ceasefire took effect in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
Israel has conducted hundreds of air strikes on Syria since the start of its civil war in 2011.
It has intensified its strikes in recent days, and has sent troops into the UN-patrolled buffer zone that separates Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, in a move the UN said violated the 1974 armistice.
France, the United Nations and several countries in the region demanded that Israel withdraw its forces from the buffer zone.
France’s foreign ministry called it “a violation” of the 1974 disengagement agreement that established the UN-patrolled buffer zone.
“France calls on Israel to withdraw from the zone and to respect Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” a ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.
At the weekend, Netanyahu declared the agreement void and ordered troops to seize the buffer zone as well as strategic points beyond it.
