Syrian rebel leader speaks at historic Umayyad mosque

Foreign Affairs Minister Paulo Rangel said this Sunday that the end of the Assad regime should lead to a peaceful and inclusive transition for all communities. António Costa, president of the CE, considered that the end of the “Assad dictatorship” is a “new opportunity for freedom and peace”.

The leader of the Syrian rebels, Abu Mohammed al-Jolanispoke today at the famous Umayyad mosque in Damascus, after the capital was declared free from the forces of Bashar al-Assad, reports the AFP agency.

Upon entering the iconic mosque in the Old City of Damascus, the leader of the radical Islamic group was greeted by a shouting crowd “Allah Akbar” (Allah is great)according to videos circulating in the press.

The rebel leader arrived in Damascus today, where he prostrated himself on a lawn, before heading to the historic mosque.

“The leader Ahmed al-Chareh prostrated himself and kissed the ground” upon arrival in Damascus, announced the rebel coalition’s Telegram channel, which showed images of the leader lying on the lawn.

The President’s Rebels Bashar al-Assadafter 12 days of coalition offensive led by the Islamic group the Levant Liberation Organization (Hayat Tahrir al Sham or HTS, in Arabic), along with other Turkish-backed factionsto defeat the Syrian government.

The Syrian president, in power for 24 yearsleft the country in the face of the rebel offensive, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), and his whereabouts are currently unknown.

Russia, China and Iran expressed concern about the end of the regimewhile the Most Western and Arab countries were satisfied because Damascus is no longer in the hands of the Assad clan.

In power for more than half a century in Syria, the Baath party was, for many Syrians, a symbol of repression, which began in 1970 with the coming to power, through a coup d’état, of Hafez al-Assad, father of Bashar, who led the country until his death in 2000.

O Bashar al-Assad’s whereabouts are unknownwith rumors that the aircraft in which it was traveling out of the country, which may have crashed.

Rangel calls for peaceful transition

Portugal stated today that, like its European partners, it is closely monitoring the situation in Syria, arguing that “the unspeakable end” of the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad “leads to a peaceful transition”.

In a statement on the social network X, the Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rangelhighlighted that the transition must also be “inclusive”, in line with Security Council resolution 2254, and that the Syrian people “have the right to peace”.

“Portugal, with European partners, is closely monitoring the situation in Syria. The end of the unspeakable Assad regime must lead to a peaceful transition and inclusive of all communities, in line with Resolution 2254 of the United Nations Security Council. The Syrian people have the right to peace“, stated Rangel.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254, approved in December 2015, was approved with the aim of defining a political solution to the civil war in Syria, which had broken out in 2011, and establishing a political transition process, under the auspices of the UN.

Costa: new opportunity for freedom

The President of the European Council, the Portuguese Antonio Costatoday considered that the end of the “Assad dictatorship” is a “new opportunity for freedom and peace for the Syrian people”.

“Assad’s dictatorship caused immense suffering. With its end, a new opportunity for freedom and peace arises for all the Syrian people”, pondered Costa in a message on the social network X.

The President of the European Council added that the regime in Syria “is also crucial to the broader stability in the region”, further guaranteeing that the European Union “is ready to work with the Syrian people for a better future”.

The position occurs after Kaja Kallahead of European Union (EU) diplomacy, considered it as “positive” to Bashar al-Assad’s stayshowing the weakness of Russian and Iranian support.

“The end of the Assad dictatorship It’s a positive development and long awaited. It also shows the weakness of Assad’s supporters, Russia and Iran,” said Kaja Kallas in a post on the social network X.

Kallas added that the EU’s priority is “ensure safety” in the region, and made a commitment that the EU will work with “all constructive partners” in Syria and, more broadly, in the region — but warned about the country’s reconstruction process, fearing it will be long and difficult.

Opportunity to respect human rights

UN experts investigating human rights violations in Syria since 2011 today classified the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime as “an opportunity to usher in a more respectful era of human rights in the country”.

“The time has come to lead the country to a stable futureprosperous and fair, which guarantees human rights and dignity that have long been denied to its people”, declared in a statement the commission chaired by the Brazilian jurist Paulo Sérgio Pinheirowho hopes that the capture of Damascus by the opposition coalition will mark “the end of decades of state repression”.

The official note particularly welcomes the release of prisoners which took place in Sednaya prison, on the outskirts of Damascus: “It is a picture that millions of Syrians could not imagine just a few days ago and it is important that current authorities ensure that the atrocities committed there are not repeated.”

The UN mission, which in addition to Pinheiro includes specialists Hanny Megally (Egypt) and Lynn Welchman (United Kingdom), also highlighted the release of thousands of prisoners in areas recently taken by the Levant Liberation Organization (Hayat Tahrir al Sham, or HTS, in Arabic, a former Syrian branch of al-Qaeda).

“We hope that authorities will ensure that all people released from arbitrary and illegal detentions receive assistance to facilitate family reunification and have adequate psychological and medical support”, they stated.

The researchers also expressed the hope that the whereabouts of tens of thousands of missing peoplemany of whom may have been imprisoned in the detention centers of the deposed regime without their families having any information about their whereabouts.

Experts asked that conflicting parties to facilitate their entry in Syria to investigate detention centers and called for unhindered access by various humanitarian actors.

Finally, they called on the new Syrian authorities to protect the houses and the property of hundreds of thousands of people displaced in the latest offensive by opposition forces, which began just over a week ago and ended with the capture of Damascus.

“There is a opportunity to break the destructive vicious circle of looting that the mission documented in previous changes of territorial power,” they said.