Syrian rebel leader says rebel factions will be dissolved

The leader of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist rebel group that spearheaded the ouster of the Bashar al-Assad regime, said Tuesday that Syria’s rebel factions will be dissolved, with all fighters uniting under the country’s Defense Ministry.

“Syria must remain united, and there must be a social contract between the state and all sects to ensure social justice,” Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly known by his nom de guerre, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, said during a meeting with the minority Druze community, according to a statement posted on HTS’s Telegram account. “The factions will be dissolved and the fighters will be prepared to join the Ministry of Defense, and everyone will be subject to the law,” Sharaa added.

The rebel groups that joined HTS in toppling the decades-long Assad regime were a complex patchwork of fighters, backed at times by foreign powers who were focused on battling different enemies — including, sometimes, one another. Sharaa’s ambitious goal of bringing all the factions together under a national army is one of a string of promises he is making to show that his government will be inclusive of all Syrians as it bids for international legitimacy.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited an Israeli-controlled portion of Syria on a security tour of an area that Israeli officials have described as a buffer zone, which includes the summit of Mount Hermon. Netanyahu said that Israel will remain in Syria “until another arrangement is found that will ensure Israel’s security.”

The visit marked a rare trip to Syrian territory by a sitting Israeli leader and was the first visit of Israeli top officials since the positions were taken by the Israel Defense Forces.

HTS, which remains on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations and has historical ties to the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, has sought in recent years to rebrand itself as an Islamist movement with a focus on local issues, rather than transnational jihad.

The United States has been pushing for a stable transition in Syria. U.S. officials have made direct contact with HTS, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he wants Syria’s government to respect the rights of women and minorities and not tolerate terrorist groups in the country. The United States has signaled it would recognize a future Syrian government under certain conditions.

Source » washingtonpost.com