UN calls for ‘free and fair’ elections in Syria

DAMASCUS - The UN envoy to Syria on Dec 18 called for “free and fair” elections after the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad, as he voiced hope for a political solution for Kurdish-held areas.

Mr Assad fled Syria following a lightning offensive spearheaded by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), more than 13 years after his crackdown on democracy protests precipitated one of the deadliest wars of the century.

He left behind a country scarred by decades of torture, disappearances and summary executions, and the collapse of his rule on Dec 8 stunned the world and sparked celebrations around Syria and beyond.

Years of civil war have also left the country heavily dependent on aid, deeply fragmented, and desperate for justice and peace.

Addressing reporters in Damascus, UN special envoy Geir Pedersen said “there is a lot of hope that we can now see the beginning of a new Syria”. “A new Syria that... will adopt a new Constitution... and that we will have free and fair elections when that time comes, after a transitional period,” he said.

Calling for immediate humanitarian assistance, he also said he hoped to see an end to international sanctions levied against Syria over Mr Assad’s abuses.

Mr Pedersen said a key challenge was the situation in Kurdish-held areas in Syria’s north-east, amid fears of a major escalation between the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Turkey-backed groups.

Turkey accuses the main component of the SDF, the People’s Protection Units, of being affiliated with Kurdistan Workers’ Party militants at home, who both Washington and Ankara consider a “terrorist” group.

The US said on Dec 17 that it had brokered an extension to a fragile ceasefire in the flashpoint town of Manbij and was seeking a broader understanding with Turkey.

“I’m very pleased that the truce has been renewed and that it seems to be holding, but, hopefully, we will see a political solution to that issue,” Mr Pedersen said.

‘We want to know’

Rooted in Syria’s branch of Al-Qaeda and proscribed as a terrorist organisation by several Western governments, HTS has sought to moderate its rhetoric by assuring protection for the country’s many religious and ethnic minorities.

It has appointed a transitional leadership that will run the country until March 1.

HTS military chief Murhaf Abu Qasra said Kurdish-held areas would be integrated under the country’s new leadership, adding that the group rejects federalism.

“Syria will not be divided,” he told AFP, adding that “the Kurdish people are one of the components of the Syrian people”.

HTS has also vowed justice for the crimes committed under Mr Assad’s rule, including the disappearance of tens of thousands of people into a complex web of detention centres and prisons that was used for decades to silence dissent.

“We want to know where our children are, our brothers,” said 55-year-old Ziad Alaywi, standing by a ditch near the town of Najha, south-east of Damascus. It is one of the locations where Syrians believe the bodies of prisoners tortured to death were buried – acts that international organisations say could constitute crimes against humanity.

“Were they killed? Are they buried here?“ Mr Alaywi asked.

Syrian civil defence official Ammar al-Salmo said unidentified human remains had been discovered in a medicine warehouse just 50m from the Sayyida Zeinab shrine, a revered pilgrimage destination for Shi’ite Muslims in the southern suburbs of Damascus.

The area was heavily guarded by pro-Iran fighters before Islamist-led rebels captured the capital on Dec 8.

“In the warehouse, we found a refrigerated room containing decomposing corpses,” Mr al-Salmo said, adding that some appeared to have died more than a year and a half earlier.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, more than 100,000 people died or were killed in custody from 2011.

‘Direct engagement’

The country’s new rulers have sought to keep its institutions going and, on Dec 18, a commercial flight took off from Damascus airport to Aleppo, the first since Mr Assad was toppled and fled to Russia.

They have also stepped up contacts with countries that had long seen Mr Assad as a pariah, and with international institutions.

EU chief Ursula Von der Leyen said the bloc would intensify its “direct engagement” with the new administration.

Members of the UN Security Council, which includes Mr Assad’s ally Russia as well as the US, on Dec 17 called for an “inclusive and Syrian-led” political process.

“This political process should meet the legitimate aspirations of all Syrians, protect all of them and enable them to peacefully, independently and democratically determine their own futures,” a statement said.

It also “underlined the need for Syria and its neighbours to mutually refrain from any action... that could undermine each other’s security”.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on Syrian military assets since Mr Assad’s overthrow, in what it says is a bid to prevent them from falling into hostile hands.

Israeli troops also occupied strategic positions in a UN-patrolled buffer zone, a move UN chief Antonio Guterres described as a breach of a 1974 armistice. AFP