Assad is gone and the rebels are in control of the capital and most of the country….and now the watch has begun to see how all this plays out for the Syrians and the rest of the world.

For now it appears the head of the rebel faction is in charge…..and who is that?

It remains unclear who will be the next leader of Syria now that Bashar al-Assad is gone, but one man is clearly positioning himself for the role: Abu Mohammed al-Golani, leader of the main military faction behind the push to oust Assad. However, in a move that speaks volumes about his desire to present a more moderate image, al-Golani has shed that military nom-de-guerre and is now going by his given name, Ahmed al-Sharaa, reports Reuters. Coverage:

• “By far, he’s the most important player on the ground in Syria,” Jerome Drevon, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, tells the New York Times. The 42-year-old al-Sharaa runs Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, a militant group once affiliated with al-Qaeda before a split several years ago.
• His shift: When al-Sharaa gave his first interviews a decade ago, he did so in full military garb, notes the AP. Over the years, he has switched to a suit and tie and begun calling for tolerance of different religious beliefs. It’s a big departure from the days when he called for Syria to be ruled by sharia law. “He’s retooled, he’s refashioned, made new allies, and come with his own charm offensive,” another regional expert tells Reuters.
• Bio, US view: Al-Sharaa was born in Saudi Arabia, but his parents were Syrian exiles, and the family returned there in the 1980s. He went across the border to Iraq in 2003 to fight with al-Qaeda against the US, reports Al Jazeera. He spent about five years in a US military prison before returning to Syria. The US still considers him a terrorist—and still has a $10 million bounty on his head. The US also considers HTS a terrorist organization.
• The question: Analysts are watching to see if al-Sharaa will continue to espouse—and perhaps enact—more moderate policies amid Syria’s current leadership void. “In a way, this is his Zelensky moment,” says analyst Drevon, referring to the leader of Ukraine. “Zelensky was criticized before the war in Ukraine, and then he became a statesman. The question is can (al-Sharaa) make the same transformation.”

Like I have already said…..the road ahead is a tough one for the country and is full of chaos waiting to take hold and diminish the rewards for free the Syrian people from the vice grip of Assad.

So how does it look for Syria?

Syria’s prime minister said Monday that most cabinet ministers were back at work after rebels overthrew President Bashar Assad, but some state workers failed to return to their jobs, and a United Nations official said the country’s public sector had come “to a complete and abrupt halt.” Meanwhile, streams of refugees crossed back into Syria from neighboring countries, hoping for a more peaceful future and looking for relatives who disappeared during Assad’s brutal rule.

• There were signs of the difficulties ahead for the rebel alliance now in control of much of the country, the AP reports. The alliance is led by a former senior al-Qaeda militant who severed ties with the extremist group years ago and has promised representative government and religious tolerance. The rebel command said Monday it would not tell women how to dress. “It is strictly forbidden to interfere with women’s dress or impose any request related to their clothing or appearance, including requests for modesty,” the command said in a statement on social media.
• Nearly two days after rebels entered the capital, some key government services had shut down after state workers ignored calls to go back to their jobs, the UN official said, causing issues at airports and borders and slowing the flow of humanitarian aid. “This is a country that has had one government for 53 years and then suddenly all of those who have been demonized by the public media are now in charge in the nation’s capital,” UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria Adam Abdelmoula Abdelmoula told the AP. “I think it will take a couple of days and a lot of assurance on the part of the armed groups for these people to return to work again.”
• Rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was long known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, also met for the first time with Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi Jalali, who stayed in Syria when Assad fled. “You will see there are skills” among the rebels, al-Sharaa said in a video shared on a rebel messaging channel.
• Israel said it carried out airstrikes on suspected chemical weapons sites and long-range rockets to keep them from falling into the hands of extremists. Israel has also seized a buffer zone inside Syria after Syrian troops withdrew. “The only interest we have is the security of Israel and its citizens,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told reporters Monday.
• Jalali, the prime minister, has sought to project normalcy since Assad fled. “We are working so that the transitional period is quick and smooth,” he told Sky News Arabia TV on Monday, saying the security situation had already improved from the day before. At the court of Justice in Damascus, which was stormed by the rebels to free detainees, Judge Khitam Haddad, an aide to the justice minister in the outgoing government, said Sunday that judges were ready to resume work quickly.
• European countries including Germany and France said Monday that they plan to freeze all pending asylum requests from Syrians, Le Monde reports. Turkey, meanwhile, opened a border crossing to facilitate the return of refugees.

Then there is the fact that HST is considered a terrorist group….will that change?

The US is considering removing the al-Qaeda offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) from the list of US-designated terror organizations after the group led the offensive that ousted former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The Washington Post reported that US officials are in contact with HTS and other groups involved in the offensive. One US official said the Biden administration was doing a “real-time assessment” on whether or not HTS should be removed from the list of foreign terrorist organizations.

POLITICO reported there is a “furious debate” among US officials about the issue. “There is a huge scramble to see if, and how, and when we can delist HTS,” one official said.

(antiwar.com)

Another thing to keep in mind….the US has approximately 900 troops in Syria….and their fate could be bad if things do not pan out as people want….keep in mind what happened in Libya and the consequences of deposing Qaddafi.

This situation will be more important as the swearing in day gets closer.

I will be watching and writing….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”