The Japan Times - US hoping for 'inclusive' transition in Syria

Assad fled Syria after a lightning offensive spearheaded by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group and its allies, which brought a sudden end to five decades of abuses by the Assad clan.

Syrians across the country and around the world erupted in celebration after enduring an era during which suspected dissidents were jailed or killed, and nearly 14 years of war that killed 500,000 people and displaced millions.

"We were living in oppression, we were unable to speak," Ibtissam Kaab, a resident of Assad's hometown Qardaha, told AFP.

"Whenever we wanted to speak, they threatened to harm us and our children."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Jordan on Thursday to kick off a crisis tour to address the aftermath of Assad's overthrow, heading straight to a meeting in the Red Sea city of Aqaba with King Abdullah II.

Blinken has called for an "inclusive" process to form Syria's next government that includes protections for minorities.

The State Department also said he would call for a Syria that is not "a base of terrorism or posing a threat to its neighbours".

Blinken's visit to Jordan is his first stop on a regional tour that will see him offer US support for "an inclusive, Syrian-led transition to an accountable and representative government," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

The joy sparked by Assad's overthrow has been accompanied by uncertainty about the future of the multi-ethnic, multi-confessional country.

Sunni Muslim HTS is rooted in Syria's branch of Al-Qaeda and is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by many Western governments, though it has sought to moderate its rhetoric.

Assad is a member of the Alawite community, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, and long sought to present himself as the sole protector of the country's minorities.

"Precisely because we are Islamic, we will guarantee the rights of all people and all sects in Syria," Mohammad al-Bashir, the transitional head of government, told Italian daily Corriere della Sera in an interview published Wednesday.

The new rulers have also pledged justice for the victims of Assad's rule, with HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani vowing that officials involved in torturing detainees will not be pardoned.

Jolani, now using his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, also urged "countries to hand over any of those criminals who may have fled so they can be brought to justice".

- 'Starting to feel safe' -

In his interview with Corriere della Sera, Bashir called on the six million Syrians who sought refuge abroad to return.

"Syria is now a free country that has earned its pride and dignity. Come back," he said.

On a visit to a mosque in Damascus, Jolani also had a message for exiled Syrians.

Of the six million Syrians who fled the country, many were stranded for years in camps, but many others were able to build careers abroad.

"The people who have emigrated, who have sought asylum, who have been displaced - they must return. All these people must return so that, hand in hand, we can build the next Syria," Jolani said.

The United Nations' envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, too urged an inclusive process, telling AFP that his "biggest concern is that the transition will create new contradictions in the manner that could lead to new civil strife".

Syria's new government thanked eight countries for reopening diplomatic missions after Assad's ouster.

In Aleppo, Syria's second city and the first major one captured by the rebels in their offensive, shopkeeper Ramadan Dali said that "we are starting to feel safe".

"It won't happen in a day. With all that has been destroyed in recent years, it will take time for things to return to the way they were," the 70-year-old said.

For many Syrians, Assad's fall has been a chance to exorcise the demons of decades during which torture, disappearances and summary executions became the norm.

On Wednesday, the tomb of Assad's father and predecessor Hafez was set alight, with rebel fighters in fatigues and young men watching it burn.

The Baath party of the deposed president meanwhile announced it would suspend its work "in all its forms... until further notice" and hand over assets to the authorities.

On Wednesday, the Kremlin said it wanted to see Syria stabilised "soon" and criticised Israel over hundreds of air strikes it conducted on its neighbour over the past few days.

For years, Russian warplanes patrolled the skies over Syria, carrying out large scale bombing in support of Assad's government.

- 'Turning point' -

Assad had faced down protests and an armed rebellion for more than a decade before his fall.

The rebels launched their offensive on November 27, the same day that a ceasefire took effect in the Israel-Hezbollah war, which saw Israel inflict staggering losses on the ranks of Assad's Lebanese ally.

The head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, a key backer of Hezbollah and Assad, said the country has to live with the new "realities" of Syria, state media reported Thursday.

Ahead of a G7 meeting Friday at which leaders will weigh whether to support HTS, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called Assad's departure a "turning point for Syria".

"In the past, we've always thought what comes next is necessarily better. That hasn't turned out to be the case," he said.

H.Takahashi--JT