Former al-Assad soldiers gather in Hama to settle legal status
Exclusive footage obtained by Al Jazeera’s Sanad agency today shows large crowds of former Syrian regime soldiers gathering outside the Hama police headquarters to begin the process of settling their legal and military statuses.
The video captures significant numbers of ex-regime soldiers, including those who surrendered to the military operations directorate following the liberation of Hama province and others who had defected during the military operations.
The directorate previously announced the establishment of settlement centres for former regime soldiers in the recently liberated provinces. These centres are issuing temporary identification cards to those seeking status resolution.
Turkiye ready to offer military training to Syria: Minister
Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler says the new administration in Syria should be given a chance to govern after their constructive messages.
“The new administration that toppled al-Assad announced that it would respect all government institutions, the United Nations and other international organisations,” Guler told reporters in Ankara, according to the Reuters news agency.
“We think that we need to see what the new administration will do and to give them a chance,” he added.
NATO member Turkiye backed the Syrian rebels who toppled President al-Assad last weekend, ending a 13-year civil war. Since 2016, Turkiye has mounted four military operations across growing swaths of northern Syria, citing threats to its national security.
Turkiye is estimated to maintain a few thousand troops in towns including Afrin, Azez and Jarablus in northwestern Syria and Ras al-Ain and Tell Abyad in the northeast. Ankara may discuss and reevaluate the issue of Turkiye’s military presence in Syria with the Syrian administration “when necessary conditions arise”, Guler said.
Turkiye-backed forces vow to ‘completely remove’ Kurdish fighters from Syria
Even as Syrians continue to celebrate in Damascus, fighting is still happening in other parts of the country.
In the north, the Turkish-backed SNA and Kurdish-led SDF are still fighting and competing for control. There are reports that Turkiye, which accuses the SDF of harbouring groups like the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK, has been providing air support. Kurdish fighters
Saif Polat, who leads an SNA brigade that spearheaded recent operations in the cities of Tal Rifaat and Manbij, says his forces aim to clear PKK all the way to the Iraqi border.
“There will be no ceasefire until every PKK member is completely removed from Syrian territory,” he told Al Jazeera. “We are not fighting on behalf of anyone else. Our mission is to eradicate terrorism from Syrian soil.”
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