The head of Syria’s General Command, Ahmed al-Sharaa arrives for a meeting with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon in Damascus, December 22, 2024 (AFP)

UPDATES: Security Forces Battle Assad’s Men in Western Syria

UPDATE 1950 GMT:

Amid fighting between Turkish-backed Syrian fighters and the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, an explosion has injured at least six people in a market in Tel Rifaat in northern Syria.

Some reports said the blast was caused by a bomb planted in a motorcycle. Others said it was a car bomb.

Earlier today, a senior #SDF delegation held “positive” talks with the Islamist faction Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham in Damascus.

UPDATE 1944 GMT:

The Druze-majority Suwayda Province in southern Syria has elected Mohsena al-Maythawi as its governor, and the vote has been approved by the national transitional government.

Al-Maythawi is the first female governor in Syrian history.

UPDATE 1124 GMT:

French aircraft bombed Islamic State positions in central Syria on Sunday.

France’s Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu posted, “French air assets carried out targeted strikes against Daesh on Syrian soil.” He said Rafale fighter jets and US-made Reaper drones dropped a total of seven bombs on two military targets.

UPDATE 1106 GMT:

Syria’s leaders have included some foreign fighters, including Uyghurs, a Jordanian and a Turk, in the armed forces, according to “two Syrian sources”.

The sources said out of 49 military roles announced by the Defense Ministry on Sunday, at least six — three at the rank of brigadier-general and at least three at the rank of colonel — went to foreigners.

Chinese Uyghur fighter Abdulaziz Dawood Khudaberdi, the commander of the Turkistan Islamic Party’s forces in Syria, is a brigadier-general. Two other Uyghur fighters, Mawlan Tarsoun Abdussamad and Abdulsalam Yasin Ahmad, according to a TIP statement.

Turkish citizen Omar Mohammed Jaftashi and Jordanian citizen Abdul Rahman Hussein al-Khatib are brigadier-generals, and
Abdul Jashari, the head of the Albanian jihadist group Xhemati Alban, is a colonel.

“This is a small token of recognition for the sacrifices Islamist jihadists gave to our struggle for freedom from Assad’s oppression,” said a source from the leading Islamist faction Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.

In a discussion on Sky News Arabia, Col. Ismail Ayoub, a former Assad regime officer who joined rebels, portrayed the appointments as temporary: “Until now there’s no talk of formation of a Syrian army, there are invitations and calls to volunteer in the security forces.”

He said 12 to 15 Uzbeks “fought with HTS for years, speak Arabic, and know Syrian geography”, comparing them with tens of thousands of Iranian-led fighters from Iraq and Lebanon’s Hezbollah who propped up the Assad regime.

Gen. Assad al-Zubi, another defector from the regime, said the leader of Syria’s General Command, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is doing his best to formally integrate Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham into the State and armed forces.

UPDATE 0946 GMT:

US officials say the Biden Administration, through envoy Daniel Rubinstein, has expressed concern to the new Syrian Government about violent attacks by militants.

Rubinstein gave the message to Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani on Sunday. Al-Shibani replied that the transitional government opposes the violence and said it was mostly carried out by other armed groups, not the leading Islamist faction Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.

A US official said Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the General Command, and the transitional administration are trying to demobilize militias and integrate them under a revamped Syrian Army.

A State Department spokesperson said, “We believe HTS should respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Syrians, including members of minority groups and women. We will be continuing to watch and see that actions match words.”

UPDATE, DEC 31: Syria’s General Command has named Murhaf Abu Qasra as Defense Minister.

Abu Qasra, an agricultural engineer, organized and led military operations in opposition-held areas during the Syrian uprising. He oversaw the creation of the drone unit of the Islamist faction Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, the Shaheen Brigades.

Charged with unifying rebel factions under the Defense Ministry Abu Qasra was promoted to Major-General.

UPDATE 1731 GMT:

The first visit of Syria’s new Foreign Minister, Asaad Al-Shaibani, will be to Saudi Arabia.

Al-Shaibani said he accepted an invitation from his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal Bin Farhan to visit the kingdom. He posted:

I am honoured to represent my country on my first official visit. We look forward to building strategic relations with our brothers in the Kingdom in all fields.

UPDATE 1154 GMT:

Clashes between Turkish-backed Syrian fighters and the US-supported, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces continue in northern Syria.

On Monday, the Turkish-linked armed groups reportedly targeted the village of al-Terwaziyah, south of Slouk in Raqqa Province. The SDF responded with shelling.

Claims are circulating that SDF special forces penetrated Turkish-backed positions in al-Reyhaniyah village near Tel Tamer in Hasakah Province, with casualties on both sides.

The SDF announced the “carrying out of specialized operations that destroyed two radar devices, a jamming system, and an armored vehicle belonging to the Turkish occupation west of the Qarqozaq bridge”.

UPDATE 1011 GMT:

In his latest meeting with foreign diplomats, the head of Syria’s General Command, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has met a Ukrainian delegation led by Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.

The Syrian government gave no immediate details. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that Kyiv delivered its first shipment of food aid, 500 tons of wheat flour, to Syria.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: In an interview with Saudi outlet Al Arabiya, the head of Syria’s General Command, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has said that the process for a new constitution may take up to three years, and that four years might be needed for elections.

Al-Sharaa said the legal system will have to be rebuilt, and a comprehensive census and a National Dialogue Conference with specialized committees will be necessary. His faction Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, which led the overthrow of the Assad regime, will be dissolved at the Conference.

Al-Sharaa said it will take a year to restore public services destroyed under the regime.

Addressing criticism at the dominance of HTS members in the new transitional government, holding the key ministerial posts, al-Sharaa said, “The current appointments were essential for the period and not intended to exclude anyone.”

Sanctions and “Counter-Terrorism”

Looking beyond Syria, al-Sharaa said Damascus will seek strategic relations with all states: “We will not work on exporting the revolution. We want to manage the phase with the mentality of the state and not revolution.”

He expressed hope that the incoming Trump Administration in the US would lift sanctions imposed over the Assad regime’s war crimes and repression.

Syria;s new head of intelligence said a new agency will replace the 16 organizations of the Assad regime, with a new “creed” focused on citizens and international cooperation.

That co-operation include action with “many countries” about the Islamic State, Assad regime cells, and trafficking of drugs and people.

It also included collaboration with Turkey about the US-supported, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and other Kurdish organizations.

Turkey’s Erdoğan Government is threatening a military offensive, through the Syrian fighters it backs, against the Kurdish authority in northeast Syria. Ankara considers the SDF, the YPG security units, and Kurdish leaders to be part of the Turkish Kurdish insurgency PKK.

Al-Sharaa said there are talks with all parties to resolve disputes, but “we reject Syria becoming a platform for the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to launch attacks against Turkey”.

He said negotiations with the SDF could integrate it into Syria’s armed forces.

Al-Sharaa held out an olive branch to Russia, who propped up the Assad regime for more than a decade with political, economic, and military intervention. Syria shared strategic interests with Moscow, he said, and Syrian relations with Russia should serve common interests.

“We do not want Russia to leave Syria in a way that would damage its relationship with the country,” al-Sharaa declared.