Al-Assad’s Soldiers Hope for Amnesty. First, They Have to Take a Number. Al-Assad’s Soldiers Hope for Amnesty. First, They Have to Take a Number.
The New York Times
Syria’s new rulers say they will spare conscripts of Bashar al-Assad and pursue those who oversaw his regime’s abuses. Hundreds are lining up to learn which promise applies to them.
Hundreds of soldiers and police officers converged this week on a former security compound in the western Syrian city of Latakia, heeding the call of the country’s new rulers to relinquish their ties to the ousted regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
During its decades-long rule, the Assad government built a brutal security apparatus, detaining, torturing and executing opponents. Last week, the rebel coalition that overthrew him said it would hunt down senior officials implicated in crimes, while rank-and-file conscripted soldiers would receive amnesty.
More than 600 people came when the so-called reconciliation center first opened on Sunday in Latakia, in a province that has been an Assad stronghold. Many more followed on Monday, the line extending the length of the large security compound.
They hoped to clear their names and settle their status, though the centers are just the starting point and the full process to do so remains unclear.
Online and on television, the Syrian transitional government, led by the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, called for former soldiers, military officers and even medical workers in the military to hand over their IDs, weapons and vehicles.
Israel has said it is striking Syrian military sites and chemical weapons stockpiles to prevent them from falling “into the hands of extremists.” The rebels who toppled the Assad government began laying out their plans.
The fighters who forced Bashar al-Assad into exile began the complex task of governing the Syrian capital. New York Times reporters entering the country saw relics of the deposed regime on the highway from Lebanon.
After just a few days of rapid advances, the rebels appeared to control Syria’s capital. They said they would work with a top official in President Bashar al-Assad’s government. Mr. al-Assad’s location was unclear.
A centuries-old bell rang and an archbishop knocked at the Gothic cathedral’s great doors, which reopened for a V.I.P. ceremony after its monumental reconstruction. It opens to the public on Sunday.
Two war monitoring groups said Syria’s military had pulled out of a number of Damascus suburbs where anti-government protests erupted. The movements could not immediately be confirmed.
President Yoon Suk Yeol said he would not seek to impose martial law again and that he would leave his fate to his party. Lawmakers will vote on whether to impeach him later on Saturday.
The leader of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s own party has backed impeachment, on which the National Assembly is set to vote on Saturday.
The military has spent decades trying to rehabilitate its image and win public trust after a brutal past. Its role in President Yoon’s martial law raised a specter from that era.
Top military officials offered the first inside account of when President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law. Mr. Yoon faces impeachment on Saturday, and massive protests against him are planned.
President Yoon Suk Yeol’s attempt to break a political deadlock by imposing military rule collapsed within hours, leaving him with few defenders. A vote to impeach him could come as soon as Friday.
President Yoon Suk Yeol’s attempt to break a political deadlock by imposing military rule collapsed within hours, leaving him with few defenders. A vote to impeach him could come as soon as Friday.