“JUSTICE”
Asaad no longer commands the FSA, which in itself has become an umbrella for several groups, but he remains a leading figure and is proud to have returned to Damascus.
He said that together with the new HTS-backed authorities, he was working to unite armed factions under a revamped defence ministry, in the hopes that such a move would prevent in-fighting and reprisals.
“Our goal is forgiveness and reconciliation, but there must be transitional justice so that there is no revenge,” he said, demanding that members of the ousted government face justice for crimes committed under Assad’s iron-fisted rule.
Asaad also urged the international community to back the new authorities.
As the FSA had sought foreign backing during the war, in a bid to make it as short as possible, Asaad said that “today, we ask again to stand with the Syrian people… so that it is truly Syria for all the Syrian people”.
The new Syria Asaad envisions would have “good relations with all the world’s countries”, he said.
But Russia, Assad’s key backer which still has an airbase and a port is western Syria, should mend its ways, he added.
Moscow must “reconsider its calculations”, Asaad said.
“It was an enemy of the Syrian people. We hope that it will abandon this hostility and be a friend.”
