‘Starting to feel safe’
Sunni Muslim HTS is rooted in Syria’s branch of Al-Qaeda and is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by many Western governments, though it has sought to moderate its rhetoric.
“Precisely because we are Islamic, we will guarantee the rights of all people and all sects in Syria,” said Mohammad al-Bashir, whom the rebels appointed as the transitional head of government.
Asked whether Syria’s new constitution would be Islamic, he told Italian daily Corriere della Sera that “we will clarify all these details during the constituent process.”
Bashir, whose appointment was announced Tuesday, is tasked with heading the multi-ethnic, multi-confessional country until March 1.
After decades of rule by the Assads, members of the minority Alawite offshoot of Shiite Islam, Syrians now face the enormous challenge of charting a new course as they emerge from nearly 14 years of war.
In Aleppo, Syria’s second city and the first major one captured by the rebels in their offensive, shopkeeper Ramadan Dali, 70, said that “we are starting to feel safe.”
Juman Khilaly, 40, said that “there is still a lot of uncertainty” over even the most basic aspects of life, like school for her 10-year-old child and soaring prices. “Everything is so expensive,” she said.
In the Assads’ home village Qardaha, the tomb of the former leader’s father was set alight, AFP footage showed, with rebel fighters in fatigues and young men watching it burn.