'We will hold accountable the criminals, murderers, security and army officers involved in torturing the Syrian people,' says rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa
Ahmed al-Sharaa, leader of the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rebel group, at the historic Umayyad mosque in Damascus (Photo: Aref Tammawi/AFP)Kieron Monks
December 10, 2024
The head of Syria’s most powerful rebel faction warned that senior Assad officials would face justice for crimes of the regime, after offering amnesty to enemy soldiers as the country’s new leaders sought to balance demands for accountability with an inclusive approach to postwar governance.
Ahmed al-Sharaa, leader of the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group that spearheaded the lightning offensive that overthrew president Bashar al-Assad, said regime figures would be pursued after evidence of mass killings and torture was discovered in government prisons.
“We will not hesitate to hold accountable the criminals, murderers, security and army officers involved in torturing the Syrian people,” said Sharaa, previously known by his nom de guerre, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, on messaging channel, Telegram.
“We will announce a list that includes the names of the most senior officials involved in torturing the Syrian people. We will offer rewards to anyone who provides information about senior army and security officers involved in war crimes.”
Sharaa had previously promised amnesty to conscripted soldiers of the Syrian army, with media footage purporting to show HTS fighters telling captured regime forces they were free.
HTS, an Islamist militant faction and former al-Qaeda affiliate that broke with the group years ago, has espoused an inclusive message since sweeping into regime-held cities, seeking to allay fears of persecution among Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities. Sharaa denounced “sectarianism” in a victory speech at the historic Umayyad mosque in Damascus on Sunday
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Inside a secret compartment at Sednaya prison after the fall of the Assad regime in Damascus (Photo: Anagha Subhash Nair/Anadolu via Getty Images)
But mounting evidence of atrocities against suspected regime opponents in government jails such as the Sednaya complex near Damascus – dubbed a “human slaughterhouse” by Amnesty International – has fuelled demands for accountability. The Syrian Network for Human Rights group said that as many as 100,000 people died behind bars.
Dr Andreas Krieg, a Middle East security analyst and lecturer at King’s College London, said HTS would face internal pressure to bring perpetrators to justice.
“These discoveries have gone viral across Syria and the Arab world…and I think it creates public pressure for accountability, and especially within the ranks of the opposition [factions], which have suffered disproportionately,” he said. “It was people who were alleged to be part of the opposition, even 10 years ago, who have disappeared.”
Syrian and international human rights groups have collected evidence of alleged regime crimes throughout the 13-year civil war in the hope of bringing Assad and his Ba’ath Party lieutenants to justice. The US government announced on Tuesday that two Syrian former intelligence officers had been indicted on war crimes charges.
But HTS and their allies are unlikely to support an international law process, Dr Krieg said, suggesting it more likely that senior regime officials – who have not fled the country – could be tried in local Islamic courts
But mounting evidence of atrocities against suspected regime opponents in government jails such as the Sednaya complex near Damascus – dubbed a “human slaughterhouse” by Amnesty International – has fuelled demands for accountability. The Syrian Network for Human Rights group said that as many as 100,000 people died behind bars.
Dr Andreas Krieg, a Middle East security analyst and lecturer at King’s College London, said HTS would face internal pressure to bring perpetrators to justice.
“These discoveries have gone viral across Syria and the Arab world…and I think it creates public pressure for accountability, and especially within the ranks of the opposition [factions], which have suffered disproportionately,” he said. “It was people who were alleged to be part of the opposition, even 10 years ago, who have disappeared.”
Syrian and international human rights groups have collected evidence of alleged regime crimes throughout the 13-year civil war in the hope of bringing Assad and his Ba’ath Party lieutenants to justice. The US government announced on Tuesday that two Syrian former intelligence officers had been indicted on war crimes charges.
But HTS and their allies are unlikely to support an international law process, Dr Krieg said, suggesting it more likely that senior regime officials – who have not fled the country – could be tried in local Islamic courts
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A truck pulls the head of the toppled statue of late Syrian president Hafez al-Assad through the streets of the captured city of Hama (Photo: Muhammad Haj Kadour/AFP)
While there have been a handful of reports of regime figures being subjected to mob justice – one clip from the port town of Latakia purported to show an Assad ally being hung – there is as yet little indication of a violent purge of the kind that followed the fall of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in 2003, when hundreds were killed in revenge attacks, Dr Krieg said.
Ghassan Ibrahim, a Syrian-British journalist and founder of the Global Arab Network news outlet, said some senior regime figures were likely to be pursued – including family members of Assad – but believes there is no appetite for broad retribution that could prove destabilising.
“I’m happy that the Syrians don’t want to follow the Iraqi [example],” he said. “They don’t want to cleanse the Ba’athists. They don’t want to cleanse the army. They just want to restructure everything.”
Ibrahim added that any trials would have to wait for the formation of new institutions, including a new justice system.
“Talking about accountability, it’s difficult to achieve it because we don’t have the full institutions running in the country,” he said. “We don’t have proper judges, we don’t have local ministries.”
The analyst also questioned whether HTS were in a position to announce policies such as pursuing claims against Assad officials, noting that a variety of opposition groups would expect representation in a new government.
The rebels announced on Tuesday that Mohammed al-Bashir, previously an administrator in HTS-held Idlib, would serve as prime minister in a transitional government until 1 March.
While there have been a handful of reports of regime figures being subjected to mob justice – one clip from the port town of Latakia purported to show an Assad ally being hung – there is as yet little indication of a violent purge of the kind that followed the fall of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in 2003, when hundreds were killed in revenge attacks, Dr Krieg said.
Ghassan Ibrahim, a Syrian-British journalist and founder of the Global Arab Network news outlet, said some senior regime figures were likely to be pursued – including family members of Assad – but believes there is no appetite for broad retribution that could prove destabilising.
“I’m happy that the Syrians don’t want to follow the Iraqi [example],” he said. “They don’t want to cleanse the Ba’athists. They don’t want to cleanse the army. They just want to restructure everything.”
Ibrahim added that any trials would have to wait for the formation of new institutions, including a new justice system.
“Talking about accountability, it’s difficult to achieve it because we don’t have the full institutions running in the country,” he said. “We don’t have proper judges, we don’t have local ministries.”
The analyst also questioned whether HTS were in a position to announce policies such as pursuing claims against Assad officials, noting that a variety of opposition groups would expect representation in a new government.
The rebels announced on Tuesday that Mohammed al-Bashir, previously an administrator in HTS-held Idlib, would serve as prime minister in a transitional government until 1 March.
Opinion
Liberating Syria forever
Syrians gather at Umayyad Square to celebrate the collapse of 61 years of Baath Party rule with songs and convoys of cars in Damascus, Syria on December 09, 2024
Liberating Syria forever
Syrians gather at Umayyad Square to celebrate the collapse of 61 years of Baath Party rule with songs and convoys of cars in Damascus, Syria on December 09, 2024
[Emin Sansar – Anadolu Agency]
by Muhammad Jamil
by Muhammad Jamil
December 10, 2024
MEMO
After more than fifty years of tyranny, oppression and injustice, the Assad regime had a resounding fall, thanks to the sacrifices of the great Syrian people who struggled, suffered and sacrificed everything on the altar of freedom, especially over the last thirteen years.
When the Syrian people peacefully declared their desire for change – like the rest of the Arab peoples in the Arab Spring revolutions – all the enemies ganged up on them and criminal forces rushed to support the regime which committed massacres, destroyed cities and displaced the people from their lands, until people believed that the will of the Syrians had been broken, and the revolution had been aborted.
However, the Spring did not fail them, and it was followed by a stormy winter and great goodness, so that, when the zero-hour struck, the Syrian people gathered their power again and liberated cities one after the other, crowning this liberation by entering Damascus, from which the tyrant of Damascus fled in humiliation, laden with unforgettable and unforgivable crimes.
The resounding and rapid collapse of this regime stunned the world. The tyrants of the region and those aspiring to seize the country’s wealth have tried, for years, to support and maintain this regime, ignoring the victims who have been killed, the missing persons and millions of displaced persons. The Syrian regime’s membership in the Arab League was restored, and the United States of America began to think of lifting sanctions imposed on it, but the Syrian people had a different say, and they raised the flag of the Syrian revolution in the stronghold of the most powerful supporters of this regime in Moscow, while Iran and its sectarian militias retreated and became helpless and unable to save this regime.
The crimes of the regime that we have witnessed throughout the years of killing and destruction are not the whole story, but only part of it. After the fall of the regime, the “greatest secrets” began to uncover to the public, bit by bit, including the graves of the living, from which thousands emerged, some of whom were arrested in the last century, revealing horrific stories of torture, horrifying killing, acid rooms and special rooms containing execution guillotines and presses to grind the bodies of the dead and ovens to burn and dispose of them.
The world was also shocked and impressed by the state of tolerance enjoyed by the revolutionaries, who took no revenge on the puppets of the regime and those who defended its crimes in all forums and there was no chaos, looting or theft. This tolerance reached an unbelievable level, where the government of the toppled regime was tasked with running the state institutions until a framework was formed to manage the country’s affairs for a transitional period.
Nevertheless, the revolutionaries made it clear that this tolerance is not a blank check, as all those who were involved in shedding the blood of the Syrians and looted the country’s wealth will be pursued and held accountable according to the law and in public trials, since there are crimes that cannot be overlooked, and as justice and redress must be made to all victims, and anyone with a right must get his right back.
Hard work and steady and confident steps are underway to build a new state based on the foundations of justice, equality and human dignity, with the participation of all the Syrian people, regardless of their different opinion, affiliation or sect. This is a stage that requires the unification of all efforts to thwart the opportunity for the greedy ones and those betting on the division of the Syrian people.
A lot of work awaits the Syrian people who have just embraced freedom on all internal and external levels; most importantly, the formation of various committees to document the crimes committed over the decades, committees to search for missing persons, committees to inventory the looted funds and pursue the looters, reconstruction committees and other committees. At this sensitive stage, it is very important to have those representing the Syrian people in international forums.
It is true that all Arab peoples, along with the peoples of the free world, are happy with this liberation and are eager to taste the freedom and liberation like the Syrians did, but there are also the spiteful and lurking ones, especially the surrounding dictatorial regimes and their ally, Israel, who will not leave the Syrian people in peace. Israel considers what happened as a threat to its existence, and the Arab tyrants consider it a threat to their thrones, too.
From the first moment, Israel announced that the ceasefire agreement with the Syrian state became void, and invaded Syrian territory, took control of buffer zones, and carried out dozens of air strikes to destroy the capabilities of the Syrian people under the pretext of destroying strategic weapons to prevent it from falling into the hands of the opposition forces.
These air strikes are being carried out with the blessing of the Arab regimes, which is confirmed by the utter silence of the Arab regimes, as they were displeased by the fall of the criminal regime of Al-Assad, which they have been trying to revive and maintain over the years, but they failed, so they found no one except Israel to pressure the revolutionary forces with iron and fire with the aim of dragging them into the swamp of corruption and normalisation.
So far, we have not heard a single voice from the international community condemning this brutal aggression against Syria, its people and its capabilities, as if the Syrian people, who have just begun to heal the wounds endured during a dark era, do not deserve a sincere, loyal and serious stance to soothe their pain and deter this aggression. The Syrian people have suffered enormously at the hands of a bloody regime under the nose of the international community.
The Syrian people have a long path ahead of them to rebuild their state on the foundations of pluralism, justice, equality and freedom. To achieve this, the international community must provide all necessary means of support to rebuild their state institutions so that they become a respected state that would be treated equally with the rest of the world and achieves stability and security for its people.
We should not become overwhelmed by astonishment and surprise at the speed of the fall of a regime whose slogan was “Assad forever” who ruled over the people for more than fifty years, during which the Syrian people made great sacrifices on the path to liberating Syria forever. This is the history, which is full of stories, old and new, of tyrants and the ways in which they were ousted at the hands of peoples who possessed a solid will for change. Would anyone learn from this?
After more than fifty years of tyranny, oppression and injustice, the Assad regime had a resounding fall, thanks to the sacrifices of the great Syrian people who struggled, suffered and sacrificed everything on the altar of freedom, especially over the last thirteen years.
When the Syrian people peacefully declared their desire for change – like the rest of the Arab peoples in the Arab Spring revolutions – all the enemies ganged up on them and criminal forces rushed to support the regime which committed massacres, destroyed cities and displaced the people from their lands, until people believed that the will of the Syrians had been broken, and the revolution had been aborted.
However, the Spring did not fail them, and it was followed by a stormy winter and great goodness, so that, when the zero-hour struck, the Syrian people gathered their power again and liberated cities one after the other, crowning this liberation by entering Damascus, from which the tyrant of Damascus fled in humiliation, laden with unforgettable and unforgivable crimes.
The resounding and rapid collapse of this regime stunned the world. The tyrants of the region and those aspiring to seize the country’s wealth have tried, for years, to support and maintain this regime, ignoring the victims who have been killed, the missing persons and millions of displaced persons. The Syrian regime’s membership in the Arab League was restored, and the United States of America began to think of lifting sanctions imposed on it, but the Syrian people had a different say, and they raised the flag of the Syrian revolution in the stronghold of the most powerful supporters of this regime in Moscow, while Iran and its sectarian militias retreated and became helpless and unable to save this regime.
The crimes of the regime that we have witnessed throughout the years of killing and destruction are not the whole story, but only part of it. After the fall of the regime, the “greatest secrets” began to uncover to the public, bit by bit, including the graves of the living, from which thousands emerged, some of whom were arrested in the last century, revealing horrific stories of torture, horrifying killing, acid rooms and special rooms containing execution guillotines and presses to grind the bodies of the dead and ovens to burn and dispose of them.
The world was also shocked and impressed by the state of tolerance enjoyed by the revolutionaries, who took no revenge on the puppets of the regime and those who defended its crimes in all forums and there was no chaos, looting or theft. This tolerance reached an unbelievable level, where the government of the toppled regime was tasked with running the state institutions until a framework was formed to manage the country’s affairs for a transitional period.
Nevertheless, the revolutionaries made it clear that this tolerance is not a blank check, as all those who were involved in shedding the blood of the Syrians and looted the country’s wealth will be pursued and held accountable according to the law and in public trials, since there are crimes that cannot be overlooked, and as justice and redress must be made to all victims, and anyone with a right must get his right back.
Hard work and steady and confident steps are underway to build a new state based on the foundations of justice, equality and human dignity, with the participation of all the Syrian people, regardless of their different opinion, affiliation or sect. This is a stage that requires the unification of all efforts to thwart the opportunity for the greedy ones and those betting on the division of the Syrian people.
A lot of work awaits the Syrian people who have just embraced freedom on all internal and external levels; most importantly, the formation of various committees to document the crimes committed over the decades, committees to search for missing persons, committees to inventory the looted funds and pursue the looters, reconstruction committees and other committees. At this sensitive stage, it is very important to have those representing the Syrian people in international forums.
It is true that all Arab peoples, along with the peoples of the free world, are happy with this liberation and are eager to taste the freedom and liberation like the Syrians did, but there are also the spiteful and lurking ones, especially the surrounding dictatorial regimes and their ally, Israel, who will not leave the Syrian people in peace. Israel considers what happened as a threat to its existence, and the Arab tyrants consider it a threat to their thrones, too.
From the first moment, Israel announced that the ceasefire agreement with the Syrian state became void, and invaded Syrian territory, took control of buffer zones, and carried out dozens of air strikes to destroy the capabilities of the Syrian people under the pretext of destroying strategic weapons to prevent it from falling into the hands of the opposition forces.
These air strikes are being carried out with the blessing of the Arab regimes, which is confirmed by the utter silence of the Arab regimes, as they were displeased by the fall of the criminal regime of Al-Assad, which they have been trying to revive and maintain over the years, but they failed, so they found no one except Israel to pressure the revolutionary forces with iron and fire with the aim of dragging them into the swamp of corruption and normalisation.
So far, we have not heard a single voice from the international community condemning this brutal aggression against Syria, its people and its capabilities, as if the Syrian people, who have just begun to heal the wounds endured during a dark era, do not deserve a sincere, loyal and serious stance to soothe their pain and deter this aggression. The Syrian people have suffered enormously at the hands of a bloody regime under the nose of the international community.
The Syrian people have a long path ahead of them to rebuild their state on the foundations of pluralism, justice, equality and freedom. To achieve this, the international community must provide all necessary means of support to rebuild their state institutions so that they become a respected state that would be treated equally with the rest of the world and achieves stability and security for its people.
We should not become overwhelmed by astonishment and surprise at the speed of the fall of a regime whose slogan was “Assad forever” who ruled over the people for more than fifty years, during which the Syrian people made great sacrifices on the path to liberating Syria forever. This is the history, which is full of stories, old and new, of tyrants and the ways in which they were ousted at the hands of peoples who possessed a solid will for change. Would anyone learn from this?
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