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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Six months after al-Assad's fall: Syria's tightrope walk to unity
Six months ago, the once seemingly impossible became reality: Syria's long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad was overthrown after years of brutal civil war. More than five decades of authoritarian rule by the al-Assad family came to an end. What remained was a fractured society - scarred by violence, riddled with mistrust, but also carrying a fragile hope for a new beginning. Today, the nation of roughly 23 million people is governed by a transitional administration led by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, while al-Assad has fled to Moscow. A former leader of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), al-Sharaa and his alliance played a central role in toppling al-Assad on December 8. Upon assuming office, the new leadership promised "a Syria for all." But six months on, has that promise been kept? Minorities under pressure: fear and uncertainty Internationally, the treatment of minorities in the new Syria is being viewed with particular scepticism. Like al-Sharaa and his companions, the majority of Syrians are Sunni Muslims. However, recurring outbreaks of partly sectarian violence in recent months have fuelled fears among Druze, Alawites and Christians, for example. As recently as early May, Sunni fighters aligned with the transitional government launched attacks on members of the Druze community, resulting in dozens of deaths. Observers reported what they described as "massacres" in the coastal region as early as March. In response to assaults by Assad loyalists, the transitional government launched a military operation, during which hundreds of Alawites - al-Assad's own minority sect - were killed in the fighting. "There is fear, not only in the Druze community, but also among other minorities," Hammud al-Hinawi, a Druze sheikh and one of the top leaders of the religious community, told dpa. "If we don't learn to accept one another, regardless of our religion, we can never build a nation," said al-Hinawi. This is precisely what interim President al-Sharaa promised the population when he took power: a united Syria. "But one must always keep in mind that Syria was divided by the old regime," emphasized the Druze leader. Only "hand in hand" and without extremism from any side can a united country be built, he added. This includes the Kurds in the north-east, who had previously governed their region with a high degree of autonomy. A key step toward national unity came with an agreement between Kurdish leaders and the transitional government to fully integrate into state institutions. This would, in theory, grant al-Sharaa's administration authority over both civil and military structures in the north-east. However, key details of the deal remain unresolved. Kurdish representatives expressed cautious optimism: "Like other communities, we are concerned, but we will see whether the new rulers will keep their promises and give every Syrian - regardless of their origin - their homeland back." Back on the international stage The new leadership in Damascus has also made it a priority to distance itself from the legacy of the al-Assad regime and to rebuild international relations. Al-Assad had been largely isolated following the outbreak of civil war, with his government facing severe sanctions from much of the global community. The conflict began in 2011 with anti-government protests that were violently suppressed. It escalated into a full-scale civil war with international involvement, displacing some 14 million people and killing more than 300,000 civilians, according to UN estimates. Nearly six months after al-Assad's fall, his successor al-Sharaa - a former rebel commander and ex-member of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda - has already met with several world leaders, including US President Donald Trump. In Europe, he was received by French President Emmanuel Macron. In September, al-Sharaa is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Reconnecting to global financial networks Damascus has recently scored significant gains on the international stage, particularly in the area of sanctions relief. In mid-May, Syrians flooded the streets in celebration after Trump unexpectedly announced the complete lifting of US sanctions against the country. Just days later, the European Union followed suit. The Syrian Foreign Ministry hailed the move as another "historic step" for the new Syria. During the war, essential goods - ranging from medicine to fuel - were scarce, with imports nearly impossible under the weight of international sanctions. The country was also largely cut off from the global financial system, making money transfers to and from Syria virtually impossible. Observers say lifting the sanctions could gradually lower prices and allow urgently needed foreign capital to flow into the country - critical for both economic recovery and long-term reconstruction efforts. 90% of Syrians still dependent on aid Even six months after the ousting of al-Assad, Syria remains far from stable. According to UN data from April, around 400,000 Syrian refugees from neighbouring countries - and over one million internally displaced persons - have returned to their homes. The humanitarian situation remains dire. The UN estimates that around 90% of the population still relies on some form of humanitarian aid. After more than a decade of conflict, widespread poverty persists. Many Syrians say they continue to wrestle with uncertainty about their country's future. "There are days when we question whether this new Syria is any different," one returnee said. "But there are also days when we believe - step by step - we're moving in the right direction. Hope is still alive."
Globe and Mail
6 days ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Haiti's de facto president, facing ‘situation of war,' seeks more help from Canada
Fritz Alphonse Jean, de facto president of Haiti, is calling from a well-appointed office in the Villa d'Accueil, temporary home of the Haitian government. It is an island of calm in what Mr. Jean calls the country's 'situation of war.' The machinery of state has been forced to largely relocate from the National Palace, a grand neoclassical building in Port-au-Prince that typically houses the country's leaders, because of regular gunfights between heavily armed gangs and the habitually underpowered police. Gangs control an estimated 85 per cent of the capital and have thrown Haiti into its worst crisis since the 2010 earthquake, with more than 5,000 people killed in fighting since violence escalated last spring and about 10 per cent of its population internally displaced – including the government itself. The struggle for power in Haiti has filled Port-au-Prince with dead bodies, displaced people and questions about who can bring peace to a troubled nation Mr. Jean speaks with remarkable calm and optimism for someone three months into leading the most troubled nation in the Western Hemisphere. As the temporary president of Haiti's transitional presidential council – a body established in April, 2024, with a mandate to prepare the country for elections in 2026 – he sees himself as a wartime chief executive in a conflict the state is slowly starting to win. 'For the past eight months, there have been systematic offensives by the police against gangs, some with more success than others,' he says. 'We have reached the point where the confrontations are happening in a way that's more offensive and with more success.' Whatever progress the government has made, however, it remains in desperate need of international help. Canada pledged $100-million in 2023 to help train and arm the national police, a commitment Mr. Jean would like his North American ally to double down on. 'Canada has always been an important partner of Haiti,' he says. 'There is an urgent need to reinforce police with armaments and training.' An economist by trade, he looks forward to working with another former central banker-turned-politician, Mark Carney, on issues around which Haiti and Canada have historically collaborated, such as the control of money laundering. 'I am certain that Mr. Carney is sensitive to the smooth functioning of the financial sector,' Mr. Jean says. But security is far and away the most important issue facing Haiti's threadbare and unelected government. Its efforts to rid the country of gangs have reached a new level of desperation: The New York Times reported last week that Haiti has hired the notorious U.S. mercenary Erik Prince, whose company Blackwater killed 17 Iraqi civilians in 2007. The interim president neither confirmed nor denied the report in an interview with The Globe and Mail last week, but suggested that bringing in outside military contractors was well within his mandate. 'We are in an extremely serious situation in Haiti with forces of order that are not well enough equipped,' Mr. Jean said. 'It's normal that the government should take steps to bring an end to the violence in Haiti.' The loose network of powerful gangs – whom the U.S. government designated as terrorists in early May – continue to outman and outgun the country's 'forces of order.' A country of nearly 12 million is policed by just about 10,000 officers, along with several hundred Kenyans deployed through a UN-sponsored security mission that has failed to capture significant territory or gang leaders. When he was sworn in as president of the council in March, Mr. Jean promised a 'war budget' that would train over 3,000 new police officers and soldiers this year, although the government already spends nearly 10 per cent of its roughly $2.5-billion budget on the national police. Opinion: The plan to contain Haiti's gangs won't be enough Maintaining an arms race with gangs funded by international drug cartels – who use Haiti as a transshipment point for cocaine and other narcotics – is an uphill battle, Mr. Jean says. Although he has walked the corridors of power in Haiti for decades – first as governor of the central bank between 1998 and 2001, later during a brief stint as prime minister in 2016 – becoming head of the transitional council has been a wake-up call. 'I didn't understand the scope of the influence of transnational crime in the functioning of our economy and country,' he says. Structural problems facing Haiti – such as a corrupt government that had stopped providing useful services and rent-seeking oligarchs who drained any vitality from the economy – helped give rise to the gangs, and the same problems will remain even if the armed groups are defeated in time for elections in February, 2026. Even as Mr. Jean promises to focus on security above all else, he is also training his eyes on 'rebuilding the state' in the long run. More than 80 per cent of Haitians with a university degree live outside the country, after waves of emigration that started during the brutal reign of François (Papa Doc) Duvalier in the 1960s – a 'frightening number,' Mr. Jean says. 'We can't build a country like that.' Mr. Jean is planning a visit to Montreal soon, during which he will invite members of the city's vibrant Haitian diaspora to return to help rebuild the country. Of the country's remaining population, more than half is under the age of 25, a form of 'wealth' Mr. Jean acknowledges is 'unexploited' because of generations of underinvestment in education. This self-described wartime president seems eager to turn the page on an era of bloody conflict and concentrate on making a 'new Haiti' instead, one in which corrupt actors no longer 'take the state hostage.' The country, in his telling, has come to the 'end of the tunnel.' 'Everyone in Port-au-Prince feels that level of insecurity, but now there is a glimmer of hope,' Mr. Jean says. 'We could dissolve completely, and it's a possibility, countries have disappeared from the Earth. But I don't think we're going to disappear.'
Washington Post
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Trump vowed to ease sanctions on Syria. How quickly that happens is up for debate
WASHINGTON — Since President Donald Trump announced his intent to end a half-century of U.S. sanctions on Syria , a debate has developed in his administration over how quickly and thoroughly that should happen. At risk could be the future of a transitional government run by those who drove Syrian leader Bashar Assad from power late last year and hopes that it can stabilize the country after a devastating 13-year civil war that has left millions dead or displaced, the economy in ruins and thousands of foreign fighters still on Syrian soil.
Associated Press
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Trump vowed to ease sanctions on Syria. How quickly that happens is up for debate
WASHINGTON (AP) — Since President Donald Trump announced his intent to end a half-century of U.S. sanctions on Syria, a debate has developed in his administration over how quickly and thoroughly that should happen. At risk could be the future of a transitional government run by those who drove Syrian leader Bashar Assad from power late last year and hopes that it can stabilize the country after a devastating 13-year civil war that has left millions dead or displaced, the economy in ruins and thousands of foreign fighters still on Syrian soil. U.S. presidents have piled up penalties over the years on the autocratic family that previously controlled Syria, and those could be quickly lifted or waived through executive action. But Congress imposed some of the strictest measures and would have to permanently remove them. Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, the former militant commander who led the overthrow, says he is working to build an inclusive government friendly to the West. Some Trump administration officials are pushing to lift or waive sanctions as fast as possible without demanding tough conditions first. Others in the administration have proposed a phased approach, giving short-term waivers soon on some sanctions and then tying extensions or a wider executive order to Syria meeting conditions, which could substantially slow — or even permanently prevent — longer-term relief. That would impede the interim government's ability to attract investment and rebuild Syria after the war, critics say. 'The Syria sanctions are a complex web of statutes, executive actions and United Nations Security Council resolutions that have to be unwound thoughtfully and cautiously,' White House National Security Council spokesman Max Bluestein said. The administration is 'currently analyzing the optimal way to do so' and would have an announcement soon, Bluestein said in a statement Thursday to The Associated Press. A State Department proposal circulated among officials after Trump's pledge on his Middle East trip last week lays out sweeping conditions for future phases of relief or permanent lifting of sanctions, including dismantling Palestinian militant groups as a top demand, according to a senior U.S. official familiar with the plan, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Additional proposals are circulating, including one shared this week that broadly emphasized taking all the action possible, as fast as possible, to help Syria rebuild, the official said. A welcome US announcement in Syria People danced in the streets of Damascus after Trump announced in Saudi Arabia last week that he would 'be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness.' 'We're taking them all off,' Trump said a day before meeting the country's new leader. 'Good luck, Syria. Show us something special.' This week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio advocated for a hedged approach in testimony before U.S. lawmakers. Rubio pushed for sanctions relief to start quickly, saying Syria's five-month-old transition government could be weeks from 'collapse and a full-scale civil war of epic proportions.' But asked what sanctions relief should look like overall, Rubio gave a one-word explanation: 'Incremental.' Washington has levied sanctions against Syria's former ruling family since 1979 over its support for Hezbollah and other Iranian-allied militant groups, its alleged chemical weapons program and its brutality against civilians as the Assad family fought to stay in power. The sanctions include heavy penalties for outside companies or investors doing business there. Syria needs tens of billions of dollars in investment to restore its battered infrastructure and help the estimated 90% of the population living in poverty. Syria's interim leaders 'didn't pass their background check with the FBI,' Rubio acknowledged to lawmakers this week. The group that al-Sharaa led, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, was originally affiliated with al-Qaida, although it later renounced ties and took a more moderate tone. It is still listed by the U.S. as a terrorist organization. But al-Sharaa's government could be the best chance for rebuilding the country and avoiding a power vacuum that could allow for a resurgence of the Islamic State and other extremist groups. 'If we engage them, it may work out, it may not work out. If we do not engage them, it was guaranteed to not work out,' Rubio said. Mouaz Moustafa, executive director of the U.S.-based Syrian Emergency Task Force and an advocate who has been influential in helping shape past U.S. policy on Syria, said he has been circulating a framework for a proposed executive order that would allow Trump to quickly remove many of the sanctions. Trump's move to lift the penalties is aimed at 'preventing a failed state and ending perpetual violence,' but some in the administration are trying to 'water down' the decision, Moustafa asserted. Debate within the Trump administration The initial document sent out last week by the State Department's policy and planning staff proposed a three-phase road map for sanctions relief, starting with short-term waivers. Progress toward additional relief and an outright lifting of penalties in future phases would be tied to tough conditions that generated pushback from some officials. Removing 'Palestinian terror groups' from Syria is first on the list of requirements to get to the second phase. Supporters of sanctions relief say the condition might be impossible, given the subjectivity of determining which groups meet that definition and at what point they can be declared removed. Other conditions for moving to the second phase are for the new government to take custody of detention facilities housing Islamic State fighters in northeast Syria and to carry out a recent deal with the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces — which manages the detention facilities — that includes the SDF being incorporated into the Syrian army. To get to phase three, Syria would be required to join the Abraham Accords — normalized relations with Israel — and to prove that it had destroyed all of the previous government's chemical weapons. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu previously pushed for the Trump administration not to lift sanctions on Syria. Israel has been suspicious of the new government, although Syrian officials have said publicly that they do not want a conflict with Israel. Since Assad fell, Israel has launched hundreds of airstrikes and seized a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in Syria. Congressional sanctions on Syria will take much longer to lift While some of the sanctions can be lifted by executive action, others face a more complex process. The most difficult could be the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, a wide-reaching set of sanctions passed by Congress in 2019 in response to alleged war crimes by Assad's government. It specifically blocks reconstruction activities, and although it can be waived for 180 days by executive order, investors are likely to be wary of reconstruction projects when sanctions could be reinstated after six months. In a meeting last week in Turkey with Syria's foreign minister, Rubio and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham explained that they supported Trump's call to ease sanctions immediately but that permanent relief would require action by the Syrian government to meet conditions that the president laid out, according to other U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. 'We have a moment here to provide some capability to this new government that should be conditions-based,' Graham said this week. 'And I don't want that moment to pass.' ___ Sewell reported from Beirut. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
LBCI
20-05-2025
- Politics
- LBCI
Rubio says Syria could be weeks away from 'full-scale civil war'
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Tuesday that Syria could be weeks away from civil war, days after he met with the country's transitional leaders. "It is our assessment that, frankly, the transitional authority, given the challenges they're facing, are maybe weeks -- not many months -- away from potential collapse and a full scale civil war of epic proportions, basically the country splitting up," Rubio told a Senate hearing. AFP
