Divisions emerge among Syrian rebels, days after removal of Assad

Cracks threaten to derail transition to new government as world powers scramble to adapt

Syrians in Damascus wave the opposition's flag as they celebrate the fall of Bashar Al Assad on Wednesday. EPA

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Tensions have emerged between Syria’s new Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS) rulers and other rebels, sources told The National on Thursday. The cracks could undermine a transition to a new government after the rebels brought down the dictatorship of Bashar Al Assad.

The Assad regime, which was dominated by the Alawite minority who ruled Sunni-majority Syria for six decades, collapsed after HTS swept through Syria's main urban centres on a march south from Turkey in the last two weeks. HTS is an Al Qaeda offshoot listed as a terrorist group by the US.

The fall of Assad has undermined a grand strategy by Iran and Russia to expand in the Levant. Their interventions have cost them billions of dollars but yielded no long-term return. Now, Syria's de facto leader is HTS commander Ahmad Al Shara, a Sunni aligned with Turkey. He is ideologically opposed to Tehran's Shiite clerical rulers and its main proxy, the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

But it was a pack of southern rebels from the governorate of Deraa, near the border with Jordan, who entered Damascus first as the regime fell on Sunday. They met with Mr Al Shara in the capital on Wednesday and asked him to keep away from the south but received no assurances, two Syrian military sources briefed on the meeting told The National. "He replied that he is building a state, meaning that they have to fall under his control or else," one of the sources said.

The main rebel group in the south is known as the Eighth Division, led by Ahmad Al Odeh, who has good ties with Jordan and a reputation for pragmatism. An HTS takeover of the south would put its militant fighters on the border with Jordan. Three years ago Amman joined other Arab countries in ending hostilities with Mr Al Assad after Iranian-backed militias deployed on the Syria-Jordan border, posing a security threat to the kingdom.

In the last two days, skirmishes have occurred between HTS and the southern rebels in an upmarket area on the outskirts of Damascus called the Assad Villages, as the two sides ransacked villas belonging to the former ruling elite. Mr Al Shara has already installed a protege to lead a new Syrian government and few expect him to share any significant powers. Although Mr Al Shara has links with Turkey, rebuilding Syria after a 13-year civil war will require wider international funding.

Syria's war began in late 2011, several months after regime forces killed thousands of civilians as they crushed a peaceful pro-democracy movement that started in March of that year. On Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Jordan, kicking off a crisis tour after Mr Al Assad's overthrow caught Washington and European countries off guard. Many Western powers had begun accommodating Mr Al Assad before he was deposed.

Mr Blinken will head first to the Red Sea port of Aqaba, before going to Turkey. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Washington wanted a Syria that is not "a base of terrorism or posing a threat to its neighbours".

"The US supports an inclusive, Syrian-led transition to an accountable and representative government," Mr Miller said.

But Mr Al Shara, having just achieved a stunning military victory that has shaken the power dynamics of the Middle East, has shown no appetite to share power with other stakeholders.