Syria's challenges will show Al Shara's 'real colours', says Barbara Leaf

Barbara Leaf, who served as US assistant secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, says transparency and accountability will be essential

Barbara Leaf, former US assistant secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, was among the first western officials to meet the new Syrian leader after he came to power. CNP

Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara will reveal his “real colours” with his responses to several security challenges facing Syria and his efforts to ensure inclusivity in the political system, a former US official for the Middle East said on Wednesday.

Former US assistant secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf was among the first western officials to meet the new Syrian leader after he came to power following a rebel-led offensive that toppled the former regime in December last year.

On Wednesday at the Sulaimani Forum in the Iraqi city of Sulaimaniyah, Ms Leaf warned of the mounting tests that Mr Al Shara’s cabinet will have to pass in rebuilding Syria after 13 years of civil war.

“In the end, he’s going to be judged, I think, by how he responds to the many accumulating tests that lie out there,” Ms Leaf told a panel at the Sulaimani Forum in Iraq's Sulaymaniyah.

“What are those tests? You saw them in March – the terrible atrocities on the coast,” Ms Leaf added, referring to sectarian violence that killed more than 1,300 people in strongholds of former president Bashar Al Assad, according to figures from the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Most of the dead were from the Alawite community to which Mr Al Assad belongs. It was the worst violence in Syria since the suppression in 2011 of protests against the Assad regime that led to the Syrian civil war.

Mr Al Shara has appointed a committee to investigate the recent bloodshed on the coast but he blamed remnants of the Assad regime for the violence. The coastal areas had largely been spared of fighting during Syria's civil war.

Ms Leaf said that Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara is 'saying the right things, and he is doing some of the right things'. Photo: Sana

“He promised accountability. We’ll see,” said Ms Leaf. “But that is one of the lurking, dangerous threats to a successful transition – whether it's led by Al Shara or anybody else – which is 50 years, especially 14 years, of pent-up desire for prevention or reprisals.

“How he deals with the security dimension of the challenges is going to show his real colours. So, keeping a lid on that is one thing. Being accountable and transparent is another,” Ms Leaf said.

Syria officially formed a new government last month, comprising technocrats and confidants of Mr Al Shara, aiming to steer the country through a five-year transitional period and rebuild the damage inflicted by the civil war, while dealing with military incursions by Israel as well as a broken economy and limited resources.

The new government features ministers from the Alawite, Druze and Kurdish communities. The cabinet also includes technocrats who have studied abroad.

The final test for Mr Al Shara, said Ms Leaf, would be inclusivity for all components of Syrian society. But the new president may be viewing this issue from a different perspective to the Syrian people, she added.

“He is saying the right things, and he is doing some of the right things – many right things. He is making a very good impression on regional leaders,” she said.

Mr Al Shara has sought to rebuild and repair Syria’s relations with regional powers and western countries as he seeks to rid Syria of economic sanctions imposed under the Assad regime.