German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (L) and French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot

UPDATES: An Assad-Free New Year in Syria

UPDATE 1349 GMT:

In his second trip abroad, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani has met in Doha with Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

Shibani was joined by Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra and intelligence head Anas Khattab in discussions with senior Qatari officials including Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mohammed Al-Khulaifi.

Al-Khulaifi said Shibani presented the Qataris with a roadmap for the near future in Syria and steps to be taken by the new administration.

The Syrian Foreign Minister said the roadmap will “rebuild our country, restore its Arab and foreign relations, enable the Syrian people to obtain their civil and basic rights, and present a government that the Syrian people feel it represents them and all their components”.

Shibani used the visit to urge the US to lift sanctions that had been imposed on the Assad regime over its deadly repression and war crimes.

“These sanctions constitute a barrier and an obstacle to the rapid recovery and development of the Syrian people who await services and partnerships from other countries,” he told reporters after the meeting. “We reiterate our calls for the United States to lift these sanctions, which have now become against the Syrian people rather than what they previously were: imposed sanctions on the Assad regime.”

Al-Shibani’s initial meetings abroad were conducted last week in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.

UPDATE, JAN 5:

Two videos have implicated Syria’s new Justice Minister in the execution of a woman in 2015 on an allegation of adultery.

Shadi al-Waisi, a judge in the anti-Assad administration in northwest Syria before last month’s liberation, reads the sentence of the condemned woman.

The fact-checking site Verify Site analyzed the videos.

A “senior official” in the new Syrian Government confirmed to Verify Syria that the video is authentic.

The content of the video presented to us documents the enforcement of the law at a specific time and place, where the procedures were carried out in accordance with the laws in effect at that time and as part of a procedural agreement. However, we would like to point out that this process reflects a stage we have moved beyond, in light of the current legal and procedural transformations….

We reaffirm our strong commitment, legally and procedurally, to the new rules and principles agreed upon by the Syrians, which guarantee justice and the rule of law. In the context of a break from that stage, and with our commitment to transparency and credibility, we announce that all legal actions taken during that period will undergo a thorough review to ensure the validity of the judgments and their alignment with standards of justice and fairness.

We are fully prepared to assume full responsibility in a manner that ensures the establishment of justice, enhances the climate of fairness, and guarantees the rule of law as a fundamental cornerstone for a modern state that meets the aspirations of all Syrians.

UPDATE 1445 GMT:

International flights from Damascus International Airport will resume from Tuesday.

Ashhad al-Salibi, the head of the General Authority of Civil Aviation and Air Transport announced the resumption: “We reassure Arab and international airlines that we have begun the phase of rehabilitating the Aleppo and Damascus airports with our partners’ help, so that they can welcome flights from all over the world.”

On Thursday, Qatar Airways announced it would resume flights to the Syrian capital after nearly 13 years, starting with three weekly flights from Tuesday.

The first domestic flight, from Damascus to Aleppo, was on December 18 — 10 days after the liberation of Syria from the Assad regime.

UPDATE 1003 GMT:

Following her meeting with Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa on Friday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerback has said all Syrian groups — including women and Kurds — must be involved in the transitional government.

Baerbock said she stressed the inclusion of all ethnic groups while ensuring that European support funds did not fall into the hands of “new Islamist structures”.

“We discussed this in a very detailed and very clear manner,” Baerbock told reporters.

UPDATE 0948 GMT:

Syrian authorities are restricting border crossings by Lebanese nationals, say a Lebanese security official and a Syrian official.

The restrictions apply to those who do not have a residency or family inside Syria. Some exceptions are being made for those conducting business.

The Lebanese official said the “temporary” measures arose from a dispute over the apparent mistreatment by Lebanese authorities of Syrians entering or leaving Lebanon.

UPDATE, JAN 4:

In May 2012, Assad regime forces carried out a mass killing of civilians in Houla in northern Homs Province. Entire families were executed, as more than 100 people — including 49 children — were slain.

On Friday, the residents of Houla celebrated the liberation of Syria from the regime.

UPDATE 1411 GMT:

Footage of the leader of Syria’s General Command, Ahmed al-Sharaa, greeting German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot in Damascus:

UPDATE 1407 GMT:

Israel has reportedly carried out more airstrikes on defense factories and nearby Scientific Studies Research Center, which researches and develops conventional and chemical weapons, of the Assad regime in southeast Aleppo Province.

The Israelis have continued their regular attacks on the military facilities since Syria’s liberation last month.

UPDATE 1034 GMT:

Protesters held a sit-in on Wednesday demanding justice for the Douma 4, activists who were forcibly disappeared more than 11 years ago.

On December 9, 2013, gunmen stormed the Violation Documentation Center in opposition-held Douma, northeast of Damascus, and abducted Razan Zaitouneh, her husband Wael Hamadeh, Samira Khalil and Nazem Hammadi.

There has been no sign of life nor proof of death since the four were kidnapped.

“We are gathering here to remind the world of their case,” said Yassin Haj Saleh, Khalil’s husband. “This is the first opportunity that allows us to be in Douma, and in front of the place that they were kidnapped from, to speak up about the case, taking advantage of the political change that took place in the country.”

Zaitouneh was a prominent human rights lawyer and founder of the Violation Documentation Center. She helped organize networks of activists including the Local Coordination Committees.

In 2013, she was presented with the International Woman of Courage award by US First Lady Michelle Obama.

See also Syria: Zaitouneh’s Last Video Before Abduction “Hope Amid Slow Death of Siege”

Saleh said there had been appeals to various armed groups for years, seeking cooperation in finding the four activists, without any response.

Some suspected Jaish al-Islam, the opposition faction controlling Douma, of responsibility. The group denied involvement and blamed the Assad regime and the al-Qa’eda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra, the ancestor of today’s Islamist faction Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.

In 2018, as Jaish al-Islam was forced into northern Syria with the regime’s reoccupation of Douma, sources said the faction saw Zaitouneh’s documentation of abuses as a threat and resented her local administration plan as an encroachment on their power. Friends and activists said threats against her traced back to the Army of Islam.

See also Syria’s Rebels and The Disappearance of Razan Zaitouneh

Protesters on Wednesday held banners accusing Jaish al-Islam, with reading “Freedom” in English and “Traitor who kidnaps a revolutionary” in Arabic.

Wafa Moustafa, whose father was forcibly disappeared in 2013, said:

Justice in Syria cannot be limited to those detained by the Assad regime. For many years, other factions controlled parts of Syria and committed similar crimes of detention, torture and killing. If justice does not include all victims, it will remain incomplete and threaten Syria’s future.

UPDATE 1029 GMT:

The UN High Commission for Refugees estimates that 115,000 Syrians have returned to the country since liberation on December 8.

Turkish officials said on December 30 that 35,114 Syrians had returned. Jordanian officials said more than 22,000 had returned, including 3,000 registered refugees.

As of December 27, 664,000 people remain displaced inside Syria.

ORIGINAL ENTRY, JAN 3: French and German Foreign Ministers have arrived in Damascus for talks with Syria’s new leaders.

The visit is the first by foreign ministers from the European Union since the liberation of Syria from the Assad regime last month.

Germany’s Annalena Baerbock and France’s Jean-Noël Barrot will hold talks with the head of Syria’s General Command, Ahmed al-Sharaa, on Friday.

Barrot posted upon arrival in Damascus, “Together France and Germany stand alongside the Syrian people in all their diversity. In Syria, we want to promote a peaceful and demanding transition in the service of Syrians and for regional stability”.

Baerbock spoke of a “new political beginning” between the EU and Syria. She said she arrives with an “outstretched hand” as well as “clear expectations” of the new leaders — include those from al-Sharaa’s Islamist faction Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham — who will be judged by their actions.

We know where HTS comes from ideologically, what it has done in the past.

But we also hear and see the desire for moderation and for understanding with other important actors.

Saying Germany wants to help Syria return to being “a functioning state with full control over its territory”, Baerbock asked the new government to avoid “acts of vengeance against groups within the population”, to avoid a long delay before elections, and to refrain from introduction religious content into the judicial and education systems.

On Thursday, the government posted proposed changes to the curriculum, which include putting a priority on religion over nationalism and removing instruction on evolution.