Syria's de facto leader meets minority Christians
AFP
Tue, December 31, 2024
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) was the latest Western diplomat to call for an inclusive political transition in multi-ethnic, multi-confessional Syria
AFP
Tue, December 31, 2024
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) was the latest Western diplomat to call for an inclusive political transition in multi-ethnic, multi-confessional Syria
(MAHMOUD ZAYYAT) (MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP/AFP)
Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa met with senior Christian clerics on Tuesday, amid calls on the Islamist chief to guarantee minority rights after seizing power earlier this month.
"The leader of the new Syrian administration, Ahmed al-Sharaa, meets a delegation from the Christian community in Damascus," Syria's General Command said in a statement on Telegram.
The statement included pictures of the meeting with Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican clerics.
Earlier Tuesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called for an inclusive political transition in Syria that guarantees the rights of the country's diverse communities.
He expressed hope that "Syrians could take back control of their own destiny".
But for this to happen, the country needs "a political transition in Syria that includes all communities in their diversity, that upholds the most basic rights and fundamental freedoms," Barrot told AFPTV during a visit to Lebanon with Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu.
Barrot and Lecornu also met Lebanon's army chief Joseph Aoun and visited UN peacekeepers patrolling the southern border, where a fragile truce ended intense fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in late November.
- 'Positive' talks with Kurds -
Since seizing power, Syria's new leadership has repeatedly tried to reassure minorities that they will not be harmed, although some incidents have sparked protests.
On December 25, thousands protested in several areas of Syria after a video circulated showing an attack on an Alawite shrine in the country's north.
A day earlier, hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in Christian areas of Damascus to protest the burning of a Christmas tree near Hama in central Syria.
Before the civil war erupted in 2011, Syria was home to about one million Christians, according to analyst Fabrice Balanche, who says their number has dwindled to about 300,000.
Earlier, a Syrian official told AFP that Sharaa held "positive" talks with delegates of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Monday.
The talks were Sharaa's first with Kurdish commanders since his Islamist-led rebels overthrew longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad in early December and come as the SDF is locked in fighting with Turkish-backed factions in northern Syria.
The US-backed SDF spearheaded the military campaign that ousted Islamic State group jihadists from their last territory in Syria in 2019.
But Turkey, which has long had ties with Sharaa's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, accuses the main component of the SDF of links to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a four-decade insurgency against the Turkish state.
On Sunday, Sharaa told Al Arabiya television that Kurdish-led forces should be integrated into the new national army.
"Weapons must be in the hands of the state alone. Whoever is armed and qualified to join the defence ministry, we will welcome them," he said.
str-tgg/aya/kir
Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa met with senior Christian clerics on Tuesday, amid calls on the Islamist chief to guarantee minority rights after seizing power earlier this month.
"The leader of the new Syrian administration, Ahmed al-Sharaa, meets a delegation from the Christian community in Damascus," Syria's General Command said in a statement on Telegram.
The statement included pictures of the meeting with Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican clerics.
Earlier Tuesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called for an inclusive political transition in Syria that guarantees the rights of the country's diverse communities.
He expressed hope that "Syrians could take back control of their own destiny".
But for this to happen, the country needs "a political transition in Syria that includes all communities in their diversity, that upholds the most basic rights and fundamental freedoms," Barrot told AFPTV during a visit to Lebanon with Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu.
Barrot and Lecornu also met Lebanon's army chief Joseph Aoun and visited UN peacekeepers patrolling the southern border, where a fragile truce ended intense fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in late November.
- 'Positive' talks with Kurds -
Since seizing power, Syria's new leadership has repeatedly tried to reassure minorities that they will not be harmed, although some incidents have sparked protests.
On December 25, thousands protested in several areas of Syria after a video circulated showing an attack on an Alawite shrine in the country's north.
A day earlier, hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in Christian areas of Damascus to protest the burning of a Christmas tree near Hama in central Syria.
Before the civil war erupted in 2011, Syria was home to about one million Christians, according to analyst Fabrice Balanche, who says their number has dwindled to about 300,000.
Earlier, a Syrian official told AFP that Sharaa held "positive" talks with delegates of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Monday.
The talks were Sharaa's first with Kurdish commanders since his Islamist-led rebels overthrew longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad in early December and come as the SDF is locked in fighting with Turkish-backed factions in northern Syria.
The US-backed SDF spearheaded the military campaign that ousted Islamic State group jihadists from their last territory in Syria in 2019.
But Turkey, which has long had ties with Sharaa's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, accuses the main component of the SDF of links to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a four-decade insurgency against the Turkish state.
On Sunday, Sharaa told Al Arabiya television that Kurdish-led forces should be integrated into the new national army.
"Weapons must be in the hands of the state alone. Whoever is armed and qualified to join the defence ministry, we will welcome them," he said.
str-tgg/aya/kir
Reuters
Mon, December 30, 2024
FILE PHOTO: Hadi Al Bahra, president of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Istanbul
CAIRO (Reuters) - The head of the internationally recognized Syrian opposition body during the previous administration's rule, said on Monday that the group has not received an invitation to the national dialogue announced by the current government.
No communication has been made with the new administration, Hadi al-Bahra, said in an interview with Saudi state-owned broadcaster Al Arabiya TV.
Syria's de facto leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, said a day earlier that the national dialogue conference would include wide participation by Syrian society with votes on issues such as dissolving the parliament and the constitution.
The current administration has not announced a date for the announced dialogue yet.
Sharaa leads the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group which ousted former President Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 8. The group's lightning campaign ended a 13-year civil war but has left a host of questions about the future of a multi-ethnic country where foreign states including Turkey and Russia have strong and potentially competing interests.
The internationally recognized Syrian national coalition, which used to operate from Turkey under Assad's rule, was established in 2012 to overthrow the former administration.
Bahra told Al-Arabiya TV that he was back in Damascus and planning to work from there.
(Reporting by Jaidaa Taha and Menna Alaa El Din; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Sandra Maler)
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