Syria’s de facto leader, Ahmed al-Harara, has said the country is tired of war and poses no threat to its neighbors or the West.
While giving an interview to the BBC in Damascus, he called for the lifting of sanctions on Syria.
Sharia led the lightning strike that toppled Bashar al-Assad’s government less than two weeks ago. He is the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the dominant group in the rebel coalition, and was previously known by his wartime alias Abu Muhammad al-Jolani.
He said that HTS should be delisted as a terrorist organization. It has been designated by the United Nations, the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom, among many others, because it began as a splinter group of al-Qaeda, from which it split in 2016. had done
Shara said that HTS is not a terrorist group.
He said that they did not target civilians or urban areas. In fact, he considered himself a victim of the crimes of the Assad regime. He said that victims should not be treated like oppressors.
He denied that he wanted to create a version of Afghanistan in Syria.
Countries are very different, with different traditions, Shara said. Afghanistan was a tribal society. He said that there was a different mentality in Syria. He said that he believed in women’s education.
Shara was casual throughout the interview, dressed in civilian clothes, and tried to reassure all those who think his group has not broken with its extremist past.
Many Syrians do not believe this.
The actions of Syria’s new rulers in the next few months will indicate what kind of country they want Syria to be – and the way they want to govern it.