A contingent of the rebel force that recently took power in Syria has destroyed the tomb of the founder of the Assad ruling family.
According to the BBC, the tomb of former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad — whose son, Bashar al-Assad, fled the country to Russia after rebels overran his forces — was wrecked.
The BBC said the tomb was set on fire as armed men chanted around it.
Hafez al-Assad ruled Syria ruthlessly from 1971 until 2000. In 2011, his son responded to pro-democracy protesters by cracking down on freedom, an act that led to a long-simmering civil war that has ended in the past weeks with rebels taking control of the nation.
Amid celebrations from Syrian citizens that the Assad regime has ended, questions remain over how the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham will govern.
Charles Lister, the director of the Syria Program at the Middle East Institute think tank in Washington D.C., tried to paint a positive picture, according to NPR.
“The group has completely turned away from having any kind of global agenda. It has turned national,” Lister said, saying the group has plastered a moderate face over its past.
Formed in 2011, it was designated as a terrorist organization known as Jabhat al-Nusra when it partnered with Al-Qaida. Since then, it has broken ties with the group.
“But unquestionably, the group retains very conservative religious foundations,” Lister said.
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“It’s not what it was,” former U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford said. “It’s not what I had imagined when we pushed to get them on the terrorism list in 2012. Back then they were ‘al Qaeda in Iraq, Syria branch.’”
Lina Khatib, an associate fellow in the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House, said the group has focused more on partnerships than policy in recent years.
“After years of battles and competition with other rebel groups, HTS has now built an alliance of convenience with those groups,” Khatib said. “This is an alliance against Iran-backed militias and against the forces of the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad.”
Writing in Vanity Fair, Janine di Giovanni, executive director of The Reckoning Project, said the world should hold its breath as Syria changes regimes.
“There are deep concerns about the victorious Islamist rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), and its leader, Mohammed al-Jolani,” she wrote.
“So far, al-Jolani has said all the right things diplomatically and has essentially rebranded himself in the fashion of Daniel Ortega, the Nicaraguan guerilla leader who became president. But many wonder if HTS will abandon its somewhat moderate tone and revert to strict jihadist principles.
“Even though this is a moment of promise for the Syrian people, all are waiting to see what kind of government will be formed. How can institutions be erected in a vacuum? How can meaningful support structures — social, economic, cultural, governmental, and financial — be assembled for a populace so disparate and so deeply traumatized?” she continued.
“Al-Jolani must quickly establish a rule of law to avoid the chaos and extreme bloodshed that occurred in 2003 when Iraq’s Saddam Hussein fell. I have seen so many postwar nations fail: Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya. Even Egypt, in the wake of the euphoria of Tahir Square, is a shadow of its former self. Syria must not go the way of Libya.”
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