KEY POINTS
- The EU, Turkey, and Qatar reopen diplomatic channels with Syria’s transitional govt.
- UN and European Union pledge humanitarian aid.
- One million refugees are expected to return by mid-2025.
- HTS leader calls for lifting sanctions and vows disbanding armed groups.
- EU step-ups direct engagement with Syria’s new leadership.
DAMASCUS, Syria: Syria’s new rulers on Tuesday stepped up engagement with various countries over a week after Bashar al-Assad fled Damascus in the face of a lightning offensive led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
World powers, including the European Union, Turkey, and Qatar, reopened diplomatic channels with the transitional government, while Syrians across the country cautiously embraced a new era with hope and recovery.
Assad fled Syria after his forces abandoned tanks and other equipment in the face of an alliance of opposition groups led by HTS.
The collapse of Assad’s rule on December 8 stunned the world and sparked celebrations around Syria and beyond after his crackdown on protests in 2011 led to civil war.
The EU will reopen its mission in Syria following “constructive” talks with its new leadership, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said, describing it as a “very important step”.
On Tuesday, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said that Brussels would intensify its “direct engagement” with Syria’s new rulers.
She also warned against a resurgence of the Islamic State group in Syria, saying it “must not” be allowed to happen.
Speaking after talks in Ankara with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, she said the EU would increase its own contact with HTS.
“Now we have to step up and continue our direct engagement with HTS and other factions,” she said.
Diplomatic Engagements
Turkey and Qatar have reopened embassies in Damascus, while US and British officials have launched communications with Syria’s new leaders.
France sent a delegation to Damascus on Tuesday, with special envoy Jean-Francois Guillaume saying his country was preparing to stand with Syrians during the transitional period.
The French flag was raised in the embassy’s entrance hall for the first time since the mission was shuttered in 2012, AFP reported.
After meeting Syria’s new leaders, the United Nations humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said on Tuesday he was “encouraged”, and that there was a “basis for ambitious scaling-up of vital humanitarian support”.
German diplomats were also in Damascus on Tuesday, while Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni said her country was ready to engage with the new leadership.
Syria came under international sanctions over Assad’s crackdown on protests, which sparked a war that killed more than 500,000 people and forced half of the population to flee their homes.
Ahmed al-Sharaa, who heads HTS, stressed the need in a meeting with a delegation of British diplomats to end “all sanctions imposed on Syria so that Syrian refugees can return to their country”.
He also said Syria’s groups will be “disbanded and the fighters trained to join the ranks of the defence ministry”.
“Syria must remain united,” he said, according to posts on the group’s Telegram channel. “There must be a social contract between the state and all religions to guarantee social justice”.
The EU’s Kallas said the lifting of sanctions and removing HTS from its blacklist would depend on “when we see positive steps, not the words, but actual steps and deeds from the new leadership”.
The United Nations expects one million people to return to Syria in the first half of 2025, after the war pushed six million people to seek refuge abroad.
Iran said its embassy in Syria would reopen once the “necessary conditions” are met.
Assad Breaks Silence
On Monday, the ousted president broke his silence with a statement on Telegram saying that he only left for Russia once Damascus had fallen, and denounced the country’s new leaders as “terrorists”.
“My departure from Syria was neither planned nor did it occur during the final hours of the battles,” said the statement.
UN Aid Call
United Nations humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher, on a visit to Damascus, on Monday said seven out of 10 Syrians needed aid.
“We want to get a massive flow of support into Syria, really scale up fast,” he said. “Food, medicine, shelter, but also the funds to redevelop Syria that people can believe in again. We want a hopeful narrative for Syria.”
UN refugee agency UNHCR said it expects around one million people uprooted during the war to return to Syria in the first half of 2025.
