This week was hugely significant for #Syria's new gov't -- with official visits to #WashingtonDC & #NewYork resulting in a surge in diplomacy, new finance deals & investment openings.
NEW #SyriaWeekly -- Ahmed al-Sharaa travels to #Turkey, #UAE & #Qatar; #Saudi pays off #Syria's World Bank debts; Ahmed al-Awda's 8th Brigade dissolves in #Daraa; and #SDF-#Damascus de-escalation continues.
At the end of the day, the effects of #Syria's 13+yrs of conflict can't be understated -- the destruction, the death, the missing, the debilitating economic collapse, the humanitarian crisis...
The list of needs is immeasurable & the clock is ticking.
The clear success resulting from his pragmatic posture has won him significant popular support -- I saw repeatedly people trying to sell revolutionary flags with his face on them, even though they've been made illegal.
In #Damascus, Ahmed al-Sharaa has a complex balance to tow -- with jihadi factions in #Idlib, military hardliners in the command, #Syria's diverse social fabric & the international community.
It's an almost impossible challenge, getting harder by the day.
#Suwayda's main armed factions - Rijal al-Karama & Ahrar Jabal - were invited to Ahmed al-Sharaa's Jan 29 victory speech, but weren't told what it was for. They left before entering, after discovering its purpose.
A visit to #Suwayda served as a reminder of the governorate's unique status -- no checkpoints, almost no destruction, a thriving civil society & a clear desire to maintain its special status in the new #Syria.
I can't understate the centrality of this issue, as #Syria celebrates freedom & yearns to recover. External restrictions make no sense, burn trust & risk triggering serious unrest & eventually, a new chapter of conflict.
While the euphoria resulting from #Assad's fall continues to feed Syrian patience amid economic collapse & humanitarian struggles, that patience won't last forever.
Sanctions remain *THE* obstacle to an urgent need for economic investment & gradual recovery.
Despite #HTS effectively running the show in #Damascus, almost everyone I spoke to was supportive of the caretaker government -- and *especially* of Ahmed al-Sharaa. His "soft" & "patriotic" rhetoric has clearly won him a huge expansion of respect & support.
The caretaker gov't - with #Turkey's backing - is determined to take the fight to #ISIS, takeover management of the prisons & camps and to rehabilitate & resettle 1,000s of Syrians in al-Hol.
"At least 8" #ISIS plots have been foiled since Jan 1, I was told.
The US military also green-lighted the Syrian Free Army's (based in al-Tanf) attendance at Ahmed al-Sharaa's Jan 29 "victory" speech to military factions.
"Frequent" CENTCOM-#Damascus contact is now the norm & intelligence contacts continue, also.
#SDF-#Damascus talks continue & the US military is playing a direct role in encouraging them to move forward. An "American General" attends most of the talks in al-Dumayr Airbase & elsewhere; & the US is pushing the #SDF to make a deal, I was repeatedly told.
One thing that struck me the most was how local residents & civil society figures in every part of #Syria I visited were *unanimous* that the #SDF was a "problem" that urgently needed "fixing" -- an "occupier" seeking to divide, steal or destabilize #Syria.
~400,000 people, many from #Latakia & #Tartus have since been severed from their work -- most for 3-month investigations. Locals complained not of the firings themselves, but the lack of alternative work, warning that young men will turn to criminality w/o it.
#Syria's new caretaker gov't has found that ~30% of the public sector were "ghost" employees or loyalists rewarded with multiple salaries. Some village medical clinics in #Latakia had 150+ "security guards", each paid a salary, but none ever present at work.
