Syria’s new foreign minister, Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani, has spoken exclusively to Al Jazeera about the new administration’s goals, orientation and progress so far.
Speaking to Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra on New Year’s Day, just over three weeks after longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad was toppled, al-Shaibani was eager to outline the progress so far.
The interim administration – led by commander-in-chief Ahmed al-Sharaa – is expected to hold talks on January 5 to discuss Syria’s future agenda at a crucial National Dialogue Conference, which will clarify much about the way forward.
Sanctions no longer help the Syrian people
After a brutal wave of crackdowns on protesters in 2011 that sent Syria spiraling into war, Australia, Canada, the European Union, Switzerland and the United States imposed sanctions on al-Assad’s regime.
The goal at the time, al-Shaibani said, was to send a message of support to the Syrian people who were suffering under the repressive regime.
But now, he argued, the main reason for them was gone; thousands of prisoners al-Assad held in “human slaughterhouses” around the country were free and the country was working to repair the damage.
As such, “the continued enforcement (of sanctions) has become meaningless and ineffective,” al-Shaibani noted.
The US had designated Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – the group led by al-Sharaa, which led the offensive against al-Assad – a terrorist organization in 2018, and placed a $10 million bounty on it, which could prove a complication for him. the lifting of sanctions.
However, Barbara Leaf, the US assistant secretary of state for home affairs, and other officials visited Damascus on December 20, after which she announced the lifting of the ransom and signaled Washington’s willingness to engage.
“We fully support a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process that results in an inclusive and representative government that respects the rights of all Syrians, including women, and Syria’s diverse ethnic and religious communities,” Leaf said. .
Engagement with the world
One of the new administration’s top priorities is to remain open to engaging with everyone and rebuilding relations with the outside world, al-Shaibani said.
He will visit Saudi Arabia in the coming days, during which, Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra said from Damascus, the top diplomat may be able to make progress on Syria’s readmission to the Arab League.
Relations with the US, he emphasized, are likely to be decisive, but it remains to be seen how they will develop.
“Syria today is open to everyone and ready to engage with all parties, although of course the development of this administration will depend on the American side.
“We are willing to improve this relationship as long as the new American administration shows willingness,” Ahelbarra said, referring to the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.
Addressing concerns often raised by non-Syrians about the potential for violence against minorities in Syria, he acknowledged they had been raised in discussions with the US.
However, he clarified, the new administration is determined to treat everyone as Syrians, not as minority groups.
“A US focus on these issues could inadvertently reinforce divisions within Syrian society and contribute to its fragmentation,” he said.
Muhanad Seloom of the Doha Institute of Postgraduate Studies noted that the new Syrian administration has come a long way in appealing to the international community.
“For the Syrian administration … I think they have come a long way (and) also shown restraint in terms of protecting ethnic groups in Syria by not allowing anyone to take the law into their own hands,” he told Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera’s Ahelbarra added that as the euphoria of al-Assad’s fall wears off, Syrians will begin to look to their new interim government for support.
“Today is January 1, 2025, and from today and in the coming days, people will start asking more questions about the challenges ahead.
“This new administration promised to increase government salaries by 400 percent. But when they took over the central bank, the coffers were empty…they were all appropriated by the Assad regime,” he noted.
