
In a country splintered by civil war, could Syria’s rebels usher in a new dawn?
CNNCNN — The red, white, green and black Free Syrian Army flag flew over Damascus on Sunday as thousands of residents lined the main square in bursts of defiant jubilation – after President Bashar al-Assad relinquished his grip on power. “This is a regime that, for over 50 years, under the mantra of freedom, unity and socialism, oppressed, tortured and disappeared many millions in Syria.” Now, as the anti-regime coalition starts to disband Assad’s military, and lays out its vision for a post-Assad Syria, experts wonder if the next phase will be a new dawn for a people strangled by a brutal autocracy – or whether sectarianism will bring a different type of authoritarian rule. ‘Extremely challenging’ transition of power Syria’s armed opposition ultimately plans to form a government defined by institutions and a “council chosen by the people,” Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the militant figure driving the latest rebel swing, told CNN. “There is not a single household in Syria that the war has not touched.” Before armed fighters set off a stunning offensive last month, Assad’s chokehold had split Syrian territory among regime and rebel forces – some of which are backed by international powers, including the US and Turkey. In a state TV address on Sunday, a Syrian rebel commander insisted that “all sects” would be protected, adding: “Syria is for everyone, without exception … Syria is for the Sunni, the Druze, the Alawite.” Maksad, the senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, warned the fall of the Assad regime could be a “moment of potential peril” for minority communities in the country, including religious groups like Alawites, Ismailis, Druze and Christians.
History of this topic
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