Nearly three months since the fall of Bashar Al Assad’s government, the new authorities in Damascus still must grapple with the challenges of reuniting Syria. Building a fully functional state that has primacy over a country divided by a 14-year-long civil war was always going to be arduous. But it has taken on a new urgency amid the growing threat posed by ISIS.
In January, interim President Ahmad Al Shara had announced the dissolution of all armed factions and other revolutionary bodies opposed to the Assad government, and their merging into state institutions (including a reconstituted army). This remains a work in progress. All eyes are also on the interim government expected to be announced by Mr Al Shara, including who is chosen to be minister of justice, interior and defence.
Syria’s new Ministry of Defence is in talks with more than 60 rebel groups, many of which have yet to merge into the army. Reasons vary from a reluctance to give up control over the territories they govern, to a lack of trust in the new rulers who, as some groups justifiably point out, don’t have the people’s mandate. Two such groups include the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army in the north-west and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the north-east.
Ankara and Damascus worry that the SDF may be seeking to carve out a Kurdish semi-autonomous state of its own. There are also concerns about SDF ties with the militant PKK group, considered a terrorist organisation by numerous countries. But the group is also a partner to the US-led global coalition against ISIS. Having contributed to its defeat in 2019, it now holds many of its fighters and their families inside closely guarded camps. The SDF has repeatedly insisted that it wants to be part of a unified Syria, but as one official told The National, the group will retain its weapons as long as ISIS remains active in the country. This has put Damascus in a quandary.
Today, as Syria emerges from its decade-long civil strife, a regrouped ISIS poses an even bigger security threat to the country as well as to its neighbours. As Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein recently told The National, a weak security status in Syria means ISIS’s resurgence can be destabilising for the whole region. It is a situation that calls for a coalition of regional, and even international, agreements to fight and defeat ISIS militarily.
Given Syria’s centrality in such an operation, Damascus may have little option but to lean heavily on groups such as the SDF
But winning the ideological war against ISIS is even more critical to Syria’s long-term security. The group’s use of social media gives it the ability to exploit existing or new divisions and grievances in societies with the objective of recruiting fighters and growing its ranks. This makes it vital for the interim administration to ensure that no Syrian is left behind in the nation-building project.
To build credibility with all Syrians, Damascus requires a deft hand while negotiating with armed groups like the SDF and the SNA. Indeed, it should know that a top-down approach – similar to the one adopted by the Assad government over the past five decades – and worse, a return to armed confrontation, won’t help to put Syria back together. The military restructuring currently under way must, therefore, be linked to the political transition, which requires a new constitution and, eventually, elections.
Syrians need only look to countries such as Iraq, Lebanon and Afghanistan to understand how creeping sectarianism undermines the often-painfully slow mission of ensuring a viable nation-state. There is no time to be wasted.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
TO ALL THE BOYS: ALWAYS AND FOREVER
Directed by: Michael Fimognari
Starring: Lana Condor and Noah Centineo
Two stars
Safety 'top priority' for rival hyperloop company
The chief operating officer of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Andres de Leon, said his company's hyperloop technology is “ready” and safe.
He said the company prioritised safety throughout its development and, last year, Munich Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, announced it was ready to insure their technology.
“Our levitation, propulsion, and vacuum technology have all been developed [...] over several decades and have been deployed and tested at full scale,” he said in a statement to The National.
“Only once the system has been certified and approved will it move people,” he said.
HyperloopTT has begun designing and engineering processes for its Abu Dhabi projects and hopes to break ground soon.
With no delivery date yet announced, Mr de Leon said timelines had to be considered carefully, as government approval, permits, and regulations could create necessary delays.
More from Neighbourhood Watch
Ain Issa camp:
- Established in 2016
- Houses 13,309 people, 2,092 families, 62 per cent children
- Of the adult population, 49 per cent men, 51 per cent women (not including foreigners annexe)
- Most from Deir Ezzor and Raqqa
- 950 foreigners linked to ISIS and their families
- NGO Blumont runs camp management for the UN
- One of the nine official (UN recognised) camps in the region
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
SERIE A FIXTURES
Friday Sassuolo v Torino (Kick-off 10.45pm UAE)
Saturday Atalanta v Sampdoria (5pm),
Genoa v Inter Milan (8pm),
Lazio v Bologna (10.45pm)
Sunday Cagliari v Crotone (3.30pm)
Benevento v Napoli (6pm)
Parma v Spezia (6pm)
Fiorentina v Udinese (9pm)
Juventus v Hellas Verona (11.45pm)
Monday AC Milan v AS Roma (11.45pm)
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
MATCH INFO
Rugby World Cup (all times UAE)
Final: England v South Africa, Saturday, 1pm
