Syria will end the rebel groups when al-Sharaa will join forces

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Syria’s terrorist groups have agreed to dissolve and become part of the government’s Ministry of Defense as the new agency rushes to consolidate power within the reformed organization.

The head of the new government Ahmed al-Sharaa – the former leader of the Islamic terrorist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, who previously used the name Abu Mohammed al-Jolani – announced the agreement on Tuesday after meeting with the leaders of the groups including. The Turkish Armed Forces are backed by Turkey and groups in northeastern and southern Syria.

The government said the meeting resulted in “an agreement to abolish all groups and bring them together under the umbrella of the Ministry of Defence”.

The Kurdish-led, US-backed Syrian army has disappeared amid clashes with Turkish-backed rebels in the northeast following the collapse of Washington’s first ceasefire agreement there.

The interim government was agreed two weeks after former autocratic President Bashar al-Assad launched a coup by HTS-led rebels after 13 years of brutal civil war. It comes as al-Sharaa seeks to consolidate power over a broken country.

He is facing a big task. His group, HTS, has developed the skills of its soldiers through military academies and training, unlike the splinter groups.

Security is a key issue for the new regime, which faces challenges including conflicts between Turkish-backed rebels and the SDF; the threat of the resurgence of Isis, a long-time enemy of HTS that was not part of Tuesday’s agreement; and the ability of loyalists to the ousted government to reunite after Assad disbanded his army before fleeing the country.

The Sharaa government is mobilizing agencies such as the police, military and security. In the past two weeks, it has opened applications for police jobs and “settlement positions” for ex-servicemen.

It is trying to maintain security across the country by sending police and police officers from its hometown of Idlib, a corner of northwest Syria that has been controlled by HTS for years.

Security concerns grew this week, especially as unconfirmed reports spread of revenge killings in small villages and highway robberies across the country.

On Monday, in the northwestern Christian town of al-Suqaylabiyah, a large Christmas tree in the surrounding area was set on fire by unknown assailants, raising fears among Syria’s minority Christians that they are fighting hard-line Islamist groups.

Pictures shared on social media showed an HTS member standing with two priests assuring the crowd in al-Suqaylabiyah that the tree would be fixed before dawn.

Hundreds of people protested in Syria on Tuesday. Protesters in the Bab Touma area of ​​Damascus were seen carrying crosses and marching through the streets. Elsewhere in Damascus, people shopped at a large outdoor Christmas market.

Incidents such as the burning of the Christmas tree have so far been described as isolated crimes by the new leadership, which sought to present itself as a stable leadership for all Syrians despite their belief in Islam and its roots in jihadism.

But minority groups fear being isolated and attacked, given little protection under Assad despite the widespread repression that characterized his rule.