Syria’s new leader Abu Mohammed al-Julani (Ahmed al-Shara’a) said Syria could have elections in the future, but it will take up to four years to prepare for them to take place.
In addition, he said the change in power in Syria from the Assad regime to the new rulers will help lead to stability across the Middle East. He made the comments in an interview with Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath, which was published on Sunday. The interview has received attention in the region because of the many topics discussed and how candid Julani appeared to be about various issues.
In recent weeks, the Syrian leader has held many meetings with Western diplomats and countries in the region, seeking to shore up support. He has also had to deal with new sectarian tensions and protests in Latakia, Damascus, and Homs.
This has been met with a combination of flexibility and the deployment of security forces. Also, some Syrian soldiers and officers who fled during the December 8 fall of the Assad regime have returned to Syria. This is leading to questions about how dissidents will be treated.
“I do not consider myself the liberator of Syria. Everyone who made sacrifices liberated the country,” Julani said in the interview. “We tried hard to make the transfer of power smooth.”
He believes that the peaceful transfer of power will help lead to guaranteeing security in the region and the Gulf for 50 years. He knows his audience, in this interview he is speaking to people who are closer to the Gulf and Saudi Arabia. This is in contrast to when he meets with Turkish officials and his policy points must be more directed toward Turkey or Qatar’s policies in the region.
Changes to the fabric of Syrian society
The new Syrian leader said it could take three years to write a new constitution for the country and that would mean elections might take four years to happen.
“Any valid elections will require a comprehensive population census.” He also wants to see a national dialogue conference that will include all components of society. Parts of Syria are not controlled by the government. Northern Syria is partly controlled by Turkey and eastern Syria is controlled by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.This means that consolidating all of Syria under Damascus’s control will take time. “Syria will need a year for the citizenry to feel radical service changes,” Julani said.
He said the right to protest will be enshrined in Syria. He also said that many of the current appointments in the new government have come from one party because of the speed with which they had to be made.
He emphasized this is not designed to exclude other groups. In essence, the new rulers of Syria come from Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, the group that ran Idlib until it swept into Damascus on December 8.
However there are many other groups in Syria, such as southern Syria former rebel groups, Druze groups in southern Syria, and also Kurdish, Christian and Alawites. “The former regime left behind huge divisions within Syrian society,” Julani said.
The new Syrian leadership wants to see the various groups that fought in the war dissolved. This is supposed to happen via a national dialogue conference at which time groups like HTS and numerous other armed groups would cease to exist. This is important because there are a plethora of these groups such as Ahrar al-Sham and Suleiman Shah.
Julani said he wants to negotiate with the SDF to resolve the crisis in northeastern Syria, and later to include them in the government armed forces. He stressed that the Kurds are an integral part of the Syrian components, the report said. The new Syrian leader hopes that US President-elect Donald Trump will lift sanctions on Syria.
He also expressed his hope that the new US administration headed by Trump would lift sanctions on the country. In addition, he praised Saudi Arabia. This is not a surprise since he was speaking to a Gulf and pro-Saudi audience in the interview. “I am proud of everything Saudi Arabia has done for Syria, and it has a major role in the country’s future,” he said.
He hinted at investment opportunities. He pointed out he grew up in Saudi Arabia until he was seven. He also said he hoped Iran would “reconsider its interventions in the region and reconsider its policies.
On Russia, he noted that “Russia is the second most powerful country in the world and has great importance.” He discussed how Syria has “strategic interests” in ties with Russia. Russia has backed Syria since the 1960s and was a key partner of the Assad regime. Syria’s military is based on Russian and Soviet-era systems.
“Russian statements seemed very positive towards the new authority that has temporarily taken over the country’s administration, during this transitional phase,” Al-Arabiya noted.