Ahmed al-Sharaa, Abu Muhammad al-Joulani. The new leader of the transitional government and a former jihadist. Since the fall of the Assad regime, developments in Syria have moved at a rapid pace. While Iran’s role seems to be played out, Türkiye is encroaching from the north and Qatar is positioning itself as well. And after all this time, it is still difficult to gauge what Sharaa’s plans for Syria are.

Domestic developments

Sharaa has displayed impressive political skills ever since he took the reins in Syria. As former American diplomat Alberto M. Fernandez argues, Sharaa’s skills were already apparent during the Syrian civil war, as he was selected to set up al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria. At that time, he was still in his early 30s. With the passing of time, he would sever ties with Daesh, after al-Baghdadi proclaimed the Islamic State and demanded that al-Joulani pledge allegiance. Instead, he pledged fealty to al-Qaeda. After a few years, he would sever ties with al-Qaeda too, as he transformed al-Nusra into a Syrian Islamist group called HTS. Based in Idlib, Sharaa would go on and conquer or destroy rival groups. And political scientist Christopher Phillips adds that Sharaa tried to stay out of Erdogan’s orbit, but eventually accepted Turkish protection, due to Assad’s expanding power. The jihadist part of Sharaa’s story shows that he possesses impressive political acumen, not to mention a knack for propaganda, which was gladly broadcast by al-Jazeera throughout the years. In addition, Sharaa’s media savvy is noticeable too, as he consistently appears calm and collected in the interviews he gives, very different from the bombastic shouting we are used to from all Hamas representatives, the thundering speeches of Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah or the odd theatrics displayed by Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree. Indeed, Sharaa does not seem to be cut from the same cloth.

Domestic achievements and concerns

Since taking the reins, Sharaa has managed to increase government control of parts of Syria through negotiations, instead of violence. He has signed agreements with the leader of the Syrian Democratic Forces Mazloum Abdi, has managed to address concerns of the Syrian Druze community after unrest in Jaramana, and recently succeeded in convincing the 8th Brigade to disarm. More importantly, several gestures have been made to reassure Syria’s non-Sunni and non-Muslim minorities, such as the freedom for Christians to celebrate Christmas openly or Syrian Druze clerics visiting a holy shrine on the Israeli side of the Golan. And a delegation of Jews with Syrian roots has visited the country. Finally, the newly installed government seems to be an amalgam of the mosaic of Syrian society, including a female Christian minister, as well as Kurdish and Alawite representatives. All of this seems to be rather positive and a clear signal to Western countries whom........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)