
AQABA: A UN envoy on Saturday urged foreign powers to work to avoid a collapse of vital Syrian institutions following the downfall of leader Bashar Assad, as diplomats gathered in Jordan for a conference on the crisis.
Geir Pedersen, the UN’s special envoy for Syria, also backed a “credible and inclusive” political process to form the next government as he met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“We need to make sure that state institutions do not collapse, and that we get in humanitarian assistance as quickly as possible,” Pedersen said.
“If we can achieve that, perhaps there is a new opportunity for the Syrian people.”
Top Arab, Turkish, EU and US diplomats are holding talks in the Jordanian Red Sea resort city of Aqaba less than a week after Islamist-led fighters toppled Assad.
Blinken, on a trip in which he has met the leaders of Jordan, Turkiye and Iraq, has repeatedly called for an “inclusive” process that reflects all the diverse ethnic and religious communities in Syria.
Meeting Pedersen, Blinken said that the United Nations “plays a critical role” in humanitarian assistance and protecting minorities in Syria.
Assad has fled Syria, closing an era in which suspected dissidents were jailed or killed, and capping nearly 14 years of war that killed more than 500,000 people and displaced millions.
‘Tears of joy’
Abu Mohammed Al-Jolani, head of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) which spearheaded the offensive, had called on Syrians “to go to the streets to express their joy.”
Celebrations continued into the night on the first Friday — the Muslim day of rest and prayer — since Assad took flight.
Umayyad Square in Damascus was jammed with vehicles, people and waving flags as fireworks shot into the air, AFPTV live images showed.
Thousands flocked to the capital’s landmark Umayyad Mosque, some raising the three-star Syrian independence flag that none dared wave in the capital during Assad’s repressive rule.
Crowds also gathered in the squares and streets of other Syrian cities, including Homs, Hama and Idlib.
There was a festive and relaxed atmosphere as hundreds rallied in the main square of Syria’s second city Aleppo, a scene of fierce fighting during the country’s civil war, AFP correspondents said.
A huge billboard depicting Assad and his father Hafez was set on fire.
Ahmad Abd Al-Majed, 39, an engineer who returned to Aleppo from Turkiye, said that many shed “tears of joy and happiness.”
“Syrians deserve to be happy,” he said.
In the southern city of Sweida, the heartland of Syria’s Druze minority, Bayan Al-Hinnawi, 77, never believed he would live to see such a day.
“It’s a wonderful sight. Nobody could have imagined this could happen,” said Hinnawi, who spent 17 years in prison.
Tens of thousands missing
Sunni Muslim HTS is rooted in Syria’s branch of Al-Qaeda and designated a terrorist organization by many Western governments.
The group has sought to moderate its rhetoric, and the interim government insists the rights of all Syrians will be protected — as will the rule of law.
The European Union was seeking “to establish contacts” with the new rulers soon, an EU official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The UN refugee agency said the new government had sent “constructive” initial signals, including asking the organization to stay in the country.
Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) democratic countries, who met virtually on Friday, expressed hope for “a peaceful and orderly transition through the definition of an inclusive political process” in Syria.
Inside much of Syria, the focus is turning toward unraveling the secrets of Assad’s rule, particularly the network of detention centers and suspected torture sites.
Syrians have descended upon prisons, hospitals and morgues in search of long-disappeared loved ones.
“I turned the world upside down looking,” Abu Mohammed told AFP as he searched for news of three missing relatives at the Mazzeh air base in Damascus.
“We just want a hint of where they were.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it documented more than 35,000 disappearances during Assad’s rule, with the actual number likely far higher.
While Syrians celebrate the end of Assad’s brutal rule, they face a struggle for necessities in a country ravaged by war, sanctions and runaway inflation.
On Friday, the EU announced the launch of an “air bridge” operation to deliver an initial 50 tons of health supplies via neighboring Turkiye.
Israel ready to stay in buffer zone
Assad was propped up by Russia — where a senior Russian official told US media he has fled — as well as Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told private NTV television that his country had urged Russia and Iran not to intervene militarily “to ensure minimum loss of life.”
The rebels launched their offensive on November 27, the same day a ceasefire took effect in the Israel-Hezbollah war, which saw Israel inflict staggering losses on Assad’s Lebanese ally.
Both Israel and Turkiye, which backs some of the rebels who ousted Assad, have since carried out strikes inside Syria.
Israel’s latest strikes hit military sites in the Eastern Qalamun region, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said Saturday.
Israel has also sent troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone that separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, in a move the UN said violated a 1974 armistice.
The army has been ordered to “prepare to remain” there throughout the winter, Defense Minister Israel Katz’s office said Friday.
AFP