Syria’s new leadership has taken steps to unify the country’s disparate rebel factions under a single government, a move aimed at asserting authority in the wake of Bashar al-Assad’s ouster. According to reports, several rebel factions have agreed to dissolve themselves and be integrated under the defense ministry.
This latest effort is part of a broader push by Syria’s new leaders to build a state rather than a collection of militias operating independently. Senior adviser Dareen Khalifa at the International Crisis Group noted that “you can’t build a state while you have a million and one militias running around doing their own things.”
However, clashes broke out in parts of the country on Wednesday as the new administration struggled to impose order. In Tartus, 14 members of the security forces were killed in deadly clashes with loyalists of the former Assad regime.
The Syrian administration has also been conducting security operations in other cities, including Damascus and Homs, to capture forces from the former regime who had fired on civilians. A nighttime curfew was imposed on Homs between Wednesday and Thursday.
Ahmed al-Shara, the leader of the rebellion that overthrew the Assad dictatorship, has taken steps to build a new state. His administration appointed a caretaker prime minister and promised to draft a new constitution by March 2025.
Despite the agreement to unite rebel factions, not all parties have signed on. The Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led militia backed by the US, said they were open to being integrated into a new military but wanted discussions with the new leaders in Damascus without regional intervention.
President Recep Tayip Erdogan of Turkey has been hostile to the Kurdish force, viewing it as an extension of a Turkish group fighting the Turkish state. The clashes highlight the challenges facing Syria’s new leadership as they try to establish a unified government and assert authority over the country.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/25/world/middleeast/syria-rebels-government-assad.html