CNN
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Syria’s rebel-appointed prime minister met for the first time with officials from the ousted Assad regime on Tuesday, with the flag of the Syrian revolution and a declaration of Islamic faith, often displayed by jihadists, in the background. A flag was being hoisted.
The choice of optics for the rebel group’s first public cabinet meeting to discuss the transition since the fall of Bashar al-Assad was controversial, with skeptics criticizing the move on social media.
The rebels may have noticed this. Later, in a television interview with Al Jazeera, interim Prime Minister Mohammad al-Bashir, who until this week ruled the small conservative Idlib province on behalf of the rebels, appeared only holding the new Syrian flag.
How rebels ruled Idlib in northwestern Syria provides insight into how rebels govern the country. Idlib experts and residents describe Idlib’s governance as pragmatic, distancing itself from its jihadist past, striving for international acceptance, and influenced by internal and external pressures. . However, their governance was far from democratic or liberal. They warn that governing a country as large and diverse as Syria will be an entirely different challenge.
Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, leader of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which led the rebel offensive to topple Assad and is banned as a terrorist organization by the United States, rules from the shadows. I chose to do so. Jolani, who now uses his real name Ahmad al-Sharaa, has appointed Bashir, an engineer, to lead Syria on an interim basis. He said officials had gained valuable experience while governing Idlib, but acknowledged that it may not be enough.
“They (the rebels) started from nothing. Idlib was small and had no resources, but thank God we were able to do some really good things in the past… Their experience is not zero. No, and there are some successful (areas),” Jolani told Muhammad. Assad’s Prime Minister Jalali discussed the transfer of power at a meeting on Monday. “But we cannot do without the old men (guards), so we have to benefit from them.”
In just 13 days, Prime Minister Jolani’s cabinet has gone from governing tiny Idlib province to aiming to govern Syria after its first regime change in 60 years. Experts and residents who lived under the rebel-led Syrian Salvation Government (SSG) say significant adaptations will be needed for the inexperienced cabinet to effectively lead the transition period.
Dr. Walid Tamer, an Idlib resident who witnessed the transformation of Idlib province under rebel control and said he had personal contact with Jolani, said freedom of expression is protected and that the SSG in Idlib is He praised the government. But he warned that the rebels were not ready to take control of the rest of the country.
“You went from ruling Idlib to ruling the entire country…I don’t think the capacity of the government that we saw is sufficient for the task of governing all of Syria,” Free Doctors Union of Northern Syria CEO Thamel said. He himself is a liberal.
He said Idlib was “very safe” under the SSG, adding that the rebels had no restrictions on travel or movement within the HTS-controlled province.
“Syria as a whole was a difficult place to live, but they (SSG) never interfered with my private life. Products were available and no restrictions were placed on my dress or lifestyle,” he said. Said.
However, life in this region was not a wealthy one. Abdel Latif Zakour, an Idlib resident who lived under rebel control and has now moved to Turkey, told CNN that the economic situation under the SSG is “very difficult.”
“There wasn’t enough work, and a lot of people just stayed home,” he says.
As Jolani expanded his influence in Idlib in 2017, he eliminated rival Islamist groups and broke with other jihadist methods of religious coercion under the sword in the territory. supported a new project to establish a civilian government made up of engineers and academics. they captured.
“Before the Salvation Government, there were many different factions with their own courts of justice, prisons and social services,” said Jérôme Drevon, a senior analyst who has studied HTS at the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank. There was,” he told CNN. “It was imposed on other factions and usurped their governing responsibilities.”
Upon its establishment in 2017, the SSG issued a communiqué outlining four principles, one of which is that Islamic Sharia law is the “sole source of law” and “preserves the Syrian and Islamic identity of the people” The idea was to highlight the need, Al Jazeera reported.
The SSG operated as a functional government, holding public cabinet meetings with appropriate officials, issuing press statements, and overseeing 11 ministries, including justice, sports, and education. It collected taxes and managed Idlib’s limited resources to govern four million people, and worked with international humanitarian organizations to deliver aid to the region’s three million displaced people.
However, the government was not democratically elected, and ministers were appointed through the approval of a shura (advisory committee) made up of local notables, some of whom were selected by Jolani’s HTS. During the SSG’s seven-year reign, not a single woman held a leadership position.
“This is Islamic governance in a technocratic way. What they wanted to do was control how the religion was understood and how it was practiced,” Drevon said.
A 2022 UN report painted a grim picture of what life is like under HTS leadership.
The United Nations Human Rights Council’s report on Syria states that “people have been detained for comments made in private conversations about the cost of living and religious issues.” “These comments were considered defamation and blasphemy, and the latter was sentenced to one year in prison.” Authorities said “they were found guilty of wearing ‘inappropriate’ clothing and not complying with entertainment-related prohibitions. They continued to arrest women for this reason.”
Tamer, who said he has negotiated with HTS and SSG officials on health issues, said Jolani has long taken a backseat to the government’s day-to-day operations, preferring to give the government more discretion rather than threaten his group’s influence. He said he only intervened on major issues.
The rebels, who had neither a constitution nor an elected parliament, ruled Idlib by decree and established a hybrid civil-Islamic court structure that included defense attorneys, prosecutors, and an appellate process.
Drevon said Jolani was pragmatic in adapting to the demands of the society he ruled. In response to public dissatisfaction, he gradually phased out the strict application of Islamic law, turned a blind eye to mixing and smoking, and allowed protests against him. The Sharia law-based morality department was disbanded, but women were encouraged to cover their hair.
“The project was actually successful because there was buy-in from the population. It was stable, the economy was working better (than in other parts of Syria), and even the authoritarian type It was nothing compared to my family,” Drevon said.
But there were exceptions. Last year, the SSG issued a “morality ordinance” instructing children to abide by Islamic dress codes and restricting music in educational facilities. Drevon said Jolani intervened to freeze the decree because he was concerned that international uproar could affect aid donations.
Another issue is the arrest and alleged torture of dissidents that sparked mass protests against Jolani in Idlib last year. Jolani told CNN last week that the abuses in the prison were “not carried out under our orders or instructions” and that the HTS had already penalized the perpetrators.
Drevon said Syria’s transition to democracy after 60 years of dictatorship will be a long and complex process.
“This was a very new form of governance (in Idlib),” he said. “Armed groups at war cannot be expected to control very small areas in order to build social democratic institutions… They had to be realistic about what could happen in a war There hasn’t been democracy in Syria for the last 50, 60 years. You can’t become a democracy in a week.”
