New Syria leader vows state ‘monopoly’ on weapons

Syria’s new interim president pledged on Tuesday to ensure the state has a monopoly on weapons at a national dialogue conference on the country’s future after Bashar al-Assad’s overthrow.

Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led a rebel alliance that toppled Assad in December, also said he plans to establish a national dialogue conference during the country’s transition.

The conference, held at the presidential palace in Damascus, marks the beginning of a crucial phase for Syria’s future governance after years of devastating civil war.

“The unity of arms and their monopoly by the state is not a luxury but a duty and an obligation,” Sharaa told the gathering.

“Syria is indivisible; it is a complete whole, and its strength lies in its unity.”

Sharaa has previoulsy said that Kurdish-led forces should be integrated into the national army.

Swathes of north and northeast Syria are controlled by a Kurdish-led administration whose de facto army, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), spearheaded the fight that helped defeat Islamic State group jihadists in Syria in 2019, with US backing.

Hundreds of people were seen arriving for the conference in footage published by the official SANA news agency, before discussions got underway.

“Over the past two months, we have worked on pursuing those who committed crimes against Syrians,” the interim president said.

“We will work on forming a transitional justice body to restore people’s rights, ensure justice and, God willing, bring criminals to justice.”

A coalition led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham seized power in Syria on December 8 after a lightning offensive. Sharaa, the Islamist group’s leader, was named interim president in January.

An interim government has been charged with managing affairs until March 1, when a new government is set to be formed, reflecting “the diversity” of the population, according to the new authorities.

– Reforms –

Ahead of the national dialogue conference, the organising committee said it would focus on transitional justice, the constitution and institutional and economic reforms.

Discussions would also be held on “Syria’s territorial unity as well as public, individual and political liberties”, the committee said.

Recommendations would be issued at the end of the gathering, “which will serve as the basis for the constitutional declaration, the economic identity (of the country) and the plan to reform institutions”, it said.

HTS has its roots in Syria’s former Al-Qaeda affiliate but cut ties in 2016.

It is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by many governments including the United States, though it has recently sought to moderate its rhetoric and vowed to protect Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities.

Sharaa has said that HTS’s dissolution would be announced during the national dialogue conference.

The offensive that toppled Assad ended five decades of his family’s iron-fisted rule.

Sharaa said earlier this month that it could take four to five years to organise elections in Syria and two to three years to rewrite the constitution.

The new Syrian leader has been tasked with forming an interim parliament after the Assad era legislature was dissolved following his ouster.