Syrian leader Al Shara vows to impose central power as challenges emerge form fringes

30-01-2025

Syria's new leader Ahmad Al Shara said on Thursday that he would impose the power of the state on the whole of country as the central authorities deal with challenges in the east and west stemming from the civil war. A rebel coalition that overthrew president Bashar Al Assad declared Mr Al Shara the President of Syria on Wednesday. The coalition, called the Operations Room, is dominated by his Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, a former offshoot of Al Qaeda and Al Nusra Front. "We will concentrate in the coming period on … complete uniting the whole of Syria and bring it under a single authority, and build institutions based on merit and free of corruption," Mr Al Shara said in a three-minute televised statement. The new central authorities will also "instil civil peace and pursue the criminals who have spilt Syrian blood and committed toward us crimes and massacres", he said, referring to loyalists of the former Assad family regime, who ruled Syria from 1970 to 2024. The power of Mr Al Shara, who was until last month ruler of a small fiefdom in northern Syria, is being challenged on two fronts in the outlaying areas of the country. Since the civil war in late 2011, Kurdish militias have carved out large areas in the east of the country, while core loyalists of Mr Al Assad entrenched themselves in the western Alawite mountains overlooking the coast. HTS forces have launched a military campaign to subdue members of the former regime. At the same time, Syrian militias loyal to Turkey and allied with HTS have launched an offensive against the Kurdish-led militias that controls the east. The ascendancy of Mr Al Shara has sparked fears the country will fail to change into a system fundamentally different from the iron rule he played a main role in toppling. He vowed that there will be free elections in Syria, without setting a time. He said first the authorities will appoint a legislature and convene a national dialogue conference to "listen to all views about our upcoming political programme". Mr Al Shara did not directly mention pluralism or democracy. He said that Syria, having been liberated from 54 years of "one the darkest tyrannical rules" the world had known , will be "governed by shura", a form of collective decision making in Islam.

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Sudan paramilitaries kill 14 civilians fleeing besieged city

Gulf Today

12 hours ago

Gulf Today

Sudan paramilitaries kill 14 civilians fleeing besieged city

Sudanese paramilitary fighters have killed at least 14 civilians trying to flee a besieged city in Darfur, a rights group said Monday, more than 27 months into their war against the army. The Emergency Lawyers, which documents atrocities in the war between the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese army, said that "dozens more were injured and an unknown number of civilians detained" in the paramilitary attack on Saturday on the outskirts of El-Fasher city, in the western Darfur region. The RSF has in recent days launched its latest attack on El-Fasher, the North Darfur state capital which it has besieged since May 2024 but has been unable to seize from the hands of the army. Just two days before Saturday's attack, the RSF's political administration urged residents to evacuate to Qarni village, where the Emergency Lawyers says the civilians were killed. People fleeing the violence in West Darfur, cross the border into Adre, Chad. File/Reuters "I call on you to leave El-Fasher and head to Qarni, the northwest gate of the city, where our forces and the Tasis alliance forces are located and will ensure your safety," the RSF-appointed Darfur governor Al-Hadi Idris said in a video address on Thursday. Tasis is an RSF-led political alliance which late last month named leaders of a government based in South Darfur state capital Nyala. The UN has repeatedly warned of the plight of hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in El-Fasher with virtually no aid or services. A displaced Sudanese woman, accompanied by children, walks at a camp near the town of Tawila in North Darfur. File/ Agence France-Presse Families have survived on animal feed, a shortage of which was announced last week. Since April 2023, the war between the army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands, torn the country apart, and created what the UN has called the world's largest hunger and displacement crises. If the RSF captures El-Fasher, it will control all of Sudan's vast western region of Darfur and, along with its allies, much of the country's south. Agence France-Presse

New Syria clashes as Kurds accuse authorities of 'aggression' near Aleppo

The National

13 hours ago

The National

New Syria clashes as Kurds accuse authorities of 'aggression' near Aleppo

Kurdish-led fighters in Syria have said they clashed with authorities for a second day in a row on Monday in the latest setback to peace efforts. The mainly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces accused 'factions affiliated with the Syrian transitional government' of attacking four positions in the early hours of Monday morning. They said the clashes occurred in a village near Syria's industrial capital of Aleppo. 'Our forces responded to the attack with the necessary force to defend their positions and fighters, and clashes erupted that lasted for 20 continuous minutes,' the SDF said. It called the fighting a 'deliberate escalation' and said its forces were 'more prepared today than ever to exercise their legitimate right to respond with full force and determination'. The Syrian government said on Sunday that the SDF had fired rockets at army positions near the Euphrates river in an attempt to infiltrate the area. The SDF said it was responding to an unprovoked artillery assault against civilians. The authorities in Damascus did not comment on Monday's reported violence. The clashes are the first since US-sponsored talks between the two sides faltered last month. Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara signed a deal with SDF chief Mazloum Abdi in March to integrate his fighters into state forces, but the peace process has faced setbacks. It also comes shortly after a flurry of violence in Sweida in southern Syria, this time involving fighters from the Druze minority, Bedouin tribes and the Syrian government. Hundreds of people were reported to have been killed during days of unrest, with tensions continuing to simmer. Tom Barrack, a US special envoy for Syria, described the latest violence in Sweida and in Aleppo province as disturbing. The US is proud 'to be co-mediating with France the reintegration of the north-east into a unified Syria,' he said on Monday. 'The path ahead belongs to Syrians – urging all sides to uphold calm and resolve differences through dialogue, not bloodshed.' Extending Syrian government control to east of the Euphrates, which is mostly under the control of the SDF, has been a main goal for Mr Al Shara since the removal of former president Bashar Al Assad in December. The March deal paved the way for Kurdish-led forces that hold a quarter of Syria to merge with Damascus, along with regional Kurdish governing bodies. In Aleppo, government forces started joint patrols with SDF units soon afterwards in Sheikh Maqsoud, the main Kurdish neighbourhood of the city, official media. An SDF component called the People's Protection Units began a partial withdrawal from the neighbourhood. The deal faltered though after the SDF convened a conference of Kurdish political groups in April that demanded that Syria be governed under a federal system. Mr Al Shara called Syrian unity a 'red line' and said the authorities 'reject any attempt to impose a partition or create separatist cantons under the terms of federalism or self-autonomy'. Mr Al Shara and Mr Abdi failed to meet as expected on Wednesday during a visit to Damascus by Mr Barrack last month.

UK to recruit hundreds of officers to smash Kurdish smuggling gangs

The National

17 hours ago

The National

UK to recruit hundreds of officers to smash Kurdish smuggling gangs

Hundreds of new law enforcement officers are to be recruited by the UK in a bid to tackle people smuggling gangs based in the Middle East, including in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, who are bringing migrants across the English Channel in small boats. The Home Office has announced a £100 million ($133 million) spending package which will also fund the start of the new 'one-in, one out' agreement with France to deport migrants who come by boat in return for allowing those with an approved asylum claim to enter Britain. The National Crime Agency will see an additional 300 officers who will target smuggling kingpins and aim to disrupt their criminal operations across the Middle East, as well as Africa and Europe, said the Home Office. These new resources will partly go towards work being done in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region − an area where the NCA has been active − a Home Office source told The National. It comes as Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour government is grappling with the charged issue of migration, as protests continue outside hotels in central London and elsewhere that are housing asylum seekers. The announcement is part of the pledge by Mr Starmer to 'smash the gangs' of people smugglers to deal with record numbers of migrants arriving by small boats, a figure that has already topped 25,000 this year. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper signed an agreement with the government of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region at the end of last year which has seen NCA officers operating for the first time in an area that has become a centre for the people smuggling industry. NCA officers were involved in an operation to arrest suspected people smugglers allegedly linked to the same network as Amanj Hassan Zada, a UK-based human trafficker who was sentenced to 17 years in jail in November. A Home Office source told The National the funding and officers will 'absolutely' go towards the work being done in the region. which is a 'big part of the NCA's work'. Announcing the new officers and measures, Ms Cooper said: 'For six years, the small boat smuggling gangs were allowed to embed their criminal trade along our coast, and have shown a ruthless ability to adapt their tactics and maximise their profits, no matter how many lives they put at risk. 'They must not be allowed to get away with this vile crime. Now this additional funding will strengthen every aspect of our plan, and will turbocharge the ability of our law enforcement agencies to track the gangs and bring them down, working with our partners overseas, and using state-of-the-art technology and equipment.' The new money will be spent on hi-tech surveillance capabilities and AI-assisted intelligence and data analysis tools. It will also go towards funding police powers to seize digital devices and download data to gather evidence and intelligence, which was announced as part of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill. Anyone who advertises small boat crossings or fake passports on social media could be face up to five years in prison under a new offence to be introduced under the legislation. As part of the drive to reduce migration, the UK is also to clamp down on foreign students claiming asylum as their visas come to an end. An announcement is expected in the coming weeks regarding a clampdown on universities accepting foreign students who are using the study visa route as a way into the UK but then claim asylum or fail to take up their place. In its work tackling smuggling gangs the NCA has also been working to disrupt the supply of small boats coming from Turkey to the shores of northern France. Working with local law enforcement, its officers seized 25 boats capable of carrying 1,500 people at a border crossing in Bulgaria, which is on the major route used to transport the vessels. NCA director general of operations Rob Jones Director General of Operations Rob Jones said the organisation is focused 'on making the biggest impact on organised crime groups behind these lethal crossings'. 'We currently have 91 investigations continuing into the most dangerous people smuggling networks impacting the UK, and are working with partners at home and abroad to target, disrupt and dismantle them,' he said. But the opposition Conservatives described the new funding announcement as a 'desperate grab for headlines which will make no real difference'. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: 'Labour has failed and their laughable claim to smash the gangs lies in tatters. They have no serious plan, just excuses, while ruthless criminal gangs flood our borders with illegal immigrants.' 'The British public deserves real action, not empty slogans and tinkering at the edges. Immediate detention, rapid removal and shutting down these illegal networks for good.' Meanwhile, the government has moved to reduce the number of 16,000 asylum claims made by foreign students who had come to the UK legally on a study visa. Universities will be penalised if fewer than 95 per cent of international students accepted on a course start their studies or fewer than 90 per cent continue to the end.