After the takeover by the Islamist rebel group HTS led by Abu Mohammed al-Jaulani in Syria there is great uncertainty regarding the group’s intended policies. Europe’s press takes a look at the options for a new system now that the Assad dictatorship has been toppled.
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Hardliners being pragmatic
For Transtelex, what can be expected from the new rulers is still very much unclear:
“Assad’s fall does not necessarily mean that a democratic era has dawned in Syria. … The Syrian opposition is now pursuing a pragmatic policy – a visible sign of this is that the HTS has instructed its members not to wear turbans, and al-Jolani himself gives his interviews in a military uniform. His leaders promise to bury the religious hatchet and are dodging questions about what future they envision for Syria. In Idlib province, however, the organisation is pursuing a fairly strict policy based on sharia law, which many liken to that of the Taliban regime.”
Not a democratic culture
T24 underlines that the situation in Syria is very uncertain:
“We must not forget that these groups came to power by military means and that they will fight again if they deem it necessary to maintain their power. Because that is what they do best. We are talking about a country that has never developed democratic institutions or traditions, a country that was ruled by the Baathist regime for 61 years, 53 of which were under the Assad family’s dictatorship.”
Women and minorities under threat
Aftonbladet voices doubts about the new ruling forces:
“There is every reason to celebrate Assad’s fall. … However, we know from recent history that the societies created by [Islamist] groups like the Taliban, the IS, Al-Qaeda and the Nusra Front have been dreadful. Women and minorities were the first to suffer. Their rights played only a minor role in the grand political game, and abuses were often treated as ‘internal affairs’. Will history repeat itself?”
Two big risk factors
There are many open questions regarding the country’s future, Karar notes:
“After the fall of the Assad regime, the hope is that the country will be rebuilt with the return of the refugees from Turkey and Jordan. There are now two dangers: will the opposition forces turn against each other like the mujahideen organisations in Afghanistan, which sucked each other dry after the end of the Russian occupation? And will Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, become a kind of Taliban? Both scenarios would be disastrous. These are the two questions the world is asking itself. Another problem is what the relations between the [Kurdish party] PYD and the US will look like under Trump, because he has said he will stay out of Syria.”
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