When U.S. diplomats arrive in Damascus on Friday, Syria’s new de facto leader Ahmed Sala is likely to send them a clear message: The West will not be threatened under his rule.
Salad has dropped the alias of Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, which he has been pushing in meetings with Western diplomats and media since rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) overthrew the Syrian regime. route. With the new government taking office, he also called on the United States and other countries to lift sanctions on Syria.
“Now, after everything that has happened, the sanctions have to be lifted because they were against the old regime,” Salad, wearing a smart suit and white shirt, told the BBC in an interview earlier this week that she had given up. Camouflage He has worn camouflage and a turban as a jihadist leader.
“Victims and oppressors should not be treated the same,” he added.
He is also trying to shed his past identity as a jihadist leader with ties to the Islamic State terror group and al-Qaeda.
Sharad struck a softer tone, vowing to usher in an era of change driven by an inclusive Syria in which the country’s many religious and ethnic groups are represented.
But the United States has put a $10 million bounty on his head, and as the current leader of a group that Washington and others consider a terrorist organization, he faces an uphill battle to convince people he has changed.
Joze Pelayo, deputy director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative, told NBC News that Salad “has been embracing a more traditional image.” “But I think he needs to walk the talk in order to gain recognition and keep that recognition sustainable.”
Salad also tried to paint HTS in a softer light, insisting in a BBC interview that HTS should not be considered a terrorist organization because it does not target civilians or civilian areas.
Unlike the Taliban in Afghanistan, which bans women from higher education, public spaces such as parks and most jobs, Shara said he would be more inclusive, pointing to HTS’s record in areas under its jurisdiction in recent years, particularly in cities in northwestern Syria. Idlib.
The university there has been teaching for “more than eight years,” he said, adding, “I think the proportion of women in the university is over 60 percent.”
Sala also promised to establish a committee of Syrian legal experts to draft a new constitution for the country. “They will make the decision. Any ruler or president must abide by the law,” he said.
“I think he said everything that Washington and Europe wanted to hear about transitioning to a government that is inclusive and reflects the wishes of all Syrians,” said Dana Strauer, a former senior Defense Department official who served in Syria explain.
“What we don’t know is, how long is this going to go on? Will he walk the walk instead of just talk the talk? If he doesn’t win the election, will he stand by peacefully and support whoever wins? I think These are big questions,” added Strauer, now a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
The Biden administration said it is weighing whether to remove HTS from the list of terrorist groups, but that will depend on whether it thinks Salad and his new leadership team are okay to deal with.
“We are watching what they are doing now and making it clear that they want to treat other groups in Syria in an inclusive manner, making it clear that they respect women and minorities in supporting the interim government – making it clear that Syria will not be used as A base for a terrorist organization,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a press conference on Tuesday.
While many are wary of Sala’s transformation, he has forged his own path during his rise to power throughout Syria’s civil war, resisting Islamic State and al-Qaeda along the way.