Syria live news: New administration recruits for police, vows ‘rule of law’
- UN chief Antonio Guterres is said to be deeply concerned by “the recent and extensive violations of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
- Syria’s new administration invites citizens to apply to join the police force, pledges to institute the “rule of law” after years of abuses under overthrown President Bashar al-Assad.
Syria gov’t pledges ‘rule of law’ after al-Assad’s overthrow
A reminder that earlier today, Syria’s interim government vowed to institute the “rule of law” after years of abuses under ousted President al-Assad.
The new government’s spokesman was quoted as saying by AFP news agency that the country’s constitution and parliament would be suspended during a three-month transition.
“A judicial and human rights committee will be established to examine the constitution and then introduce amendments,” Obaida Arnaout said.
Speaking at the state television headquarters, seized by the new authorities, Arnaout said they would institute the “rule of law”.
“All those who committed crimes against the Syrian people will be judged in accordance with the law,” he added.
Will there be US ‘red lines’ in Syria?
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Caroline Rose, director at the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy at Georgetown University, said Israel’s expansion into Syria beyond the occupied Golan Heights remains a “potential flash point”.
“Today, we saw Erdogan issue a statement that indicated that they would confront Israeli efforts to consolidate further territory. And it’s also to be expected that HTS … would also seek to confront recent Israeli territorial moves that have been made,” she said.
Rose added that how events unfold with the opposing US-backed SDF and the Turkish-backed SNA in northeast Syria will also be consequential. In both instances, it will likely come down to what kind of “red lines” the US is willing to draw.
“I think it’s going to be telling to see how the US and Turkiye engage in the northeast. “But then again, will the US really draw that line?
“Additionally, I think when we’re looking in and around Damascus, I think it’ll be very interesting to see how the US engages with Israel as well, to see if they will also draw a line.”
Why is Israel attacking Syria?
David Des Roches, a professor at the National Defense University, says Israel has been targeting chemical weapons stockpiles in Syria to eliminate any threats against its security.
“In 2013, the French estimated that there were about 1,000 tonnes of chemical weapons in Syria,” the former Pentagon director of Arabian Peninsula Affairs explained.
“There was supposed to be a UN-supervised process that led to the destruction of all chemical weapons and the Syrians declared that complete in 2014. But they clearly conducted a chemical attack against civilians in 2017 and another one in 2018.”
At the moment, there’s nothing in open sources to indicate how many chemical weapons Syria has, Des Roches said.
He added that Israel has also been targeting the Syrian Air Force, “which no longer exists”, and the country’s missile launch facilities.
This is so that “even if you get a bad actor, like [ISIL or ISIS] coming out of the central desert, they don’t have the ability to deliver chemical weapons,” Des Roches said. “And also there’s uncertainty … [The Israelis] don’t know what the government’s going to be like in Syria and they don’t want to take a chance.”
Erdogan tells Blinken will continue to fight ISIL, YPG in Syria
The Turkish presidency has released its accounts of Erdogan’s meeting with Blinken, pledging to work to rebuild institutions in Syria and support the country’s territorial integrity, according to the Anadolu news agency.
Erdogan also told Blinken that Turkiye will take measures for its security against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the Democratic Union Party (PYD), and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
The YPG is part of the military wing of the US-supported SDF in Syria, a key ally in Washington’s fight against ISIL.
The State Department had earlier said that Blinken had emphasised the “need to ensure the coalition to defeat ISIS [ISIL] can continue to execute its critical mission” during the meeting with Ergodan.
