Syria’s embassy in Lebanon suspended consular providers on Saturday, a day after two kin of deposed Syrian President Bashar Assad had been arrested on the Beirut airport with allegedly solid passports.
Additionally on Saturday, Lebanese authorities handed over dozens of Syrians — together with former officers within the Syrian military underneath Assad — to the brand new Syrian authorities after they had been caught illegally coming into Lebanon, a conflict monitor and Lebanese officers stated.
The embassy introduced on its Fb web page that consular work was suspended “till additional discover” on the order of the Syrian international ministry. The announcement didn’t give a purpose for the suspension.
Two Lebanese safety officers, who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t authorised to talk publicly, stated the suspension was ordered as a result of the passports belonging to Assad’s kin — the spouse and daughter of certainly one of his cousins — had been believed to have been solid on the embassy.
Assad’s uncle, Rifaat Assad — who has been indicted in Switzerland on prices of conflict crimes and crimes in opposition to humanity — had flown out the day earlier than on his actual passport and was not stopped, the officers stated.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Saturday that 70 Syrians, together with former military officers, had been handed over by a Lebanese safety delegation to the safety forces of the brand new Syrian authorities, led by the previous rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS. Three Lebanese judicial officers, talking on situation of anonymity, confirmed the report.
Regional international locations have been fast to ascertain ties with Syria’s new rulers. Delegations of Libyan and Bahraini officers arrived in Damascus on Saturday on official visits.
HTS chief Ahmad al-Sharaa, previously often called Abu Mohammed al-Golani, has largely succeeded in calming fears inside and outdoors of Syria that his group would unleash collective punishment in opposition to communities that supported Assad’s rule or try and impose strict Islamic legislation on the nation’s non secular minorities.
Nonetheless, in current days, sporadic clashes have damaged out between the HTS-led safety forces and pro-Assad armed teams. The nation’s new safety forces have launched a collection of raids concentrating on officers affiliated with Assad and have arrange checkpoints in areas with vital populations of the Alawite non secular minority to which the previous president belongs to seek for weapons.
There have additionally been ongoing tensions and clashes in northeastern Syria between Kurdish-led forces and armed teams backed by Turkiye. Many Kurds have seen the brand new order in Damascus, which seems to have strengthened Turkiye’s hand in Syria, with nervousness.
Ankara sees the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces — a key US ally within the combat in opposition to the Islamic State group — as an affiliate of its sworn enemy, the Kurdistan Employees’ Social gathering, or PKK, which it classifies as a terrorist organisation.
The US State Division stated on Saturday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken had spoken with Turkish International Minister Hakan Fidan to “focus on the most recent developments in Syria.” “Secretary Blinken emphasised the necessity to assist a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political course of that upholds human rights and prioritises an inclusive and consultant authorities,” the assertion stated, including that they “additionally mentioned the shared objective of stopping terrorism from endangering the safety” of Turkiye and Syria.
On Saturday, a whole lot of protesters convened by Kurdish ladies’s teams participated in an indication within the northeastern metropolis of Hasaka to demand ladies’s rights within the new Syria.
Perishan Ramadan, a participant from Hasaka, stated the brand new authorities “is worse than Bashar” and that its leaders are Islamist extremists who “don’t settle for any function for ladies”.
Whereas the nation’s new leaders haven’t tried to impose Islamic costume or different conventions, it stays to be seen what function ladies can have within the new order and whether or not they may maintain political or authorities positions.
“Girls should be current within the new structure for Syria,” stated Rihan Loqo, spokeswoman for the Kongra Star ladies’s organisation. “… Girls’s rights shouldn’t be ignored.”
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