New Syrian Authorities Announce Agreement with Armed Islamist Groups
Radical Islamists in the Power of Syria Photo: @DW
December 31, 2024 Hour: 2:36 pm
The new Syrian authorities announced last week an agreement with armed groups from the coalition of radical Islamists that overthrew President Bashar al-Assad on December 8.
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This agreement could lead to the dissolution of these groups and their integration into the Ministry of Defense.
The Islamist factions, led by the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) under the command of Ahmed al-Sharaa, took control of Damascus after a lightning offensive that lasted less than two weeks.
In a decree published on Telegram, the “General Command” of Ahmed al-Sharaa included a list of 49 names, which encompasses both Syrian rebels and former army officers who defected after the war began in 2011 and allied themselves with the Islamist rebels.
According to the decree, these appointments are made “as part of the development and modernization of the army […], to ensure security and stability.”
Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), explained that “the majority of those promoted belong to Ahmed al-Sharaa’s inner circle.”
The SOHR, which has an extensive network of sources in Syria, identified at least “six foreign jihadists” on the list, including an Albanian, a Jordanian, a man from Tajikistan, a Uyghur, and a Turk who was part of HTS.
Meanwhile, Aymen al-Tamimi, an expert on jihadist movements and the Syrian conflict, has identified at least three foreigners: a Uyghur, a Jordanian, and a Turk “who led Turkish fighters under HTS command and is now [after the promotion] a brigade officer.”
Autor: OSG
Fuente: Aljazeera-DW