After the fall of the Assad regime, food prices exploded. Russia admits it enabled the dictator’s escape. All developments in the news blog.
Ryabkov: Brought Assad to Russia via the “safest route.”
1.30am: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov explains in an interview with US broadcaster NBC News that his country transported deposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Russia via the “safest route.” “He is safe, and this shows that Russia is acting as necessary in such an exceptional situation,” Ryabkov told NBC. Asked whether Russia would extradite Assad to face trial, the minister said: “Russia is not a party to the convention that established the International Criminal Court.”
0.58 a.m.: The leader of the victorious Islamists in Syria, Mohammed al-Jolani, has assured that the country will not experience another war. “The people are exhausted by the war,” al-Jolani told Sky News during a visit to a mosque in Damascus on Tuesday. “So the country is not ready for another one and will not get into another one.”
Meanwhile, new head of Syria’s interim government, Mohammed al-Bashir, said in an interview with Al-Jazeera broadcaster that now is the time for the people to “enjoy stability and calm” and know that the government is providing the services that need it.
Al-Bashir said on Tuesday on the Telegram channel of Syrian state television that he had been appointed to lead an interim government until March 1st. Until now, al-Bashir had been the head of the government proclaimed by the Islamist militia Hajat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in the rebel stronghold of Idlib in the northwest of the country.
12:15 a.m.: DAfter the overthrow of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, the Lebanese Hezbollah militia expressed its hope that the new leadership in the country would position itself against Israel. “We hope that Syria will stabilize (…), take a firm stand against the Israeli occupation and at the same time prevent foreign interference in its affairs,” said the pro-Iranian militia, which fought alongside Assad for years, on Tuesday .
Under Assad, Syria was an important part of the Iranian-led “Axis of Resistance” against Israel, which includes Hezbollah and the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas. Hamas had congratulated Syrians after Assad’s fall and called on “all sections of the Syrian people” to “close their ranks.”
Terrorism expert Peter Neumann has doubts that Syria will develop towards democracy and the rule of law after the change of power. The leader of the Islamist group Haiat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Ahmed al-Sharaa, who previously went by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, broke away from the terrorist network Al-Qaeda years ago, said Neumann in the ZDF “heute journal”. “. However, his group is still Islamist, with the aim of introducing a kind of theocracy in Syria.
“His fighters are not fighting for a liberal democracy. His fighters were fighting for a kind of Islamist regime,” said Neumann. A few years ago, his chief ideologist declared the Taliban in Afghanistan to be a role model. That doesn’t mean anything good for minorities and women.
The HTS leader should actually focus on reconciliation, emphasized Neumann, who teaches at King’s College in London. But he doubts that his fighters would take part. Neumann believes it is possible that there could then be opposition within his own movement.
9:37 p.m.: Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke by phone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan about the situation and developments in Syria. Both agreed that the country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty must be preserved, says a government spokesman. The fall of the Assad regime is a very good development. What must now be done is to ensure that “Syria becomes a safe home for all Syrians, regardless of their ethnic or religious affiliation.” The EU, Turkey and partners in the region wanted to work together to achieve this.
