ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Hadi Albahra, president of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), said on Wednesday that they have not met with the leadership of the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), current rulers of Syria, adding that the transitional government aims at prioritizing security and stability.
“The coalition did not meet with the commander of the military operations room, Ahmed al-Sharra, but there were some contacts with parties working in the administration of the government and parties close to him,” Albahra told Rudaw’s Omer Sonmez during a press conference in Istanbul on Wednesday, referring to the HTS leader who is better known by his nom de guerre, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani.
The SNC leader’s remarks come amid historic changes in Syria as a coalition of militia groups, led by the HTS, ousted Bashar al-Assad on December 8.
The collapse of the regime marked a new start in Syria’s history. The HTS-led groups established a transitional government led by caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir who has promised a future Syrian state that guarantees the rights of all its citizens.
Albahra added that "the priority at the current stage, the interim caretaker phase that ends next March, is the issue of security, safety, stability, securing needs and preserving state institutions.”
SNC’s military wing, the Syrian National Army (SNA), controls swathes of Syrian territory in the north with the help of Turkey. The future of their relations with the HTS-led administration remains unclear.
A spokesperson for Syria’s transitional government told Rudaw on Wednesday that no authority other than the central government in Damascus will be recognized.
“We will not accept any part of Syrian territory to remain outside the control of the current government in Damascus,” Obeida Arnaout said.
United Nations Special Envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen said on Tuesday that while much of Syria appears stable the situation remains “fragile,” with ongoing violence and displacement in Rojava threatening the country's peace.
The German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo told Rudaw in Brussels that the new Syria should avoid conflict and its components must be allowed to live in harmony.
Turkey and the SNA have launched numerous attacks on the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria in recent days despite a US-brokered ceasefire which expires at the end of the week.
Albahra linked the conflict to the presence of a “terrorist organization,” referring to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) - the backbone of the SDF. Ankara considers the YPG the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
PKK, designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, has been involved in a decades-long conflict with Ankara.
It has repeatedly denied any presence in Syria or having organic ties with the YPG.
