Eight Arab countries vow to support the ‘peaceful transition process’ in Syria Syrian War News

Syria’s new government must be “inclusive”, Arab foreign ministers have said in Jordan, warning against any discrimination.

Top diplomats from eight Arab League countries agreed at a meeting in Jordan to “support a peaceful transition process” in Syria following the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad.

Foreign ministers from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, UAE, Bahrain and Qatar issued a joint statement on Saturday after meeting at the Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba.

They said “all political and social forces” must be represented in the new Syrian government and warned against “any racial, sectarian or religious discrimination” and called for “justice and equality for all citizens”.

The political process in Syria should be supported by “the United Nations and the Arab League, in accordance with the principles of the Security Council Resolution 2254”, the resolution in 2015 that set the direction for the negotiation agreement, said the statement.

Arab politicians also attended a separate meeting in Aqaba that included US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, UN Special Envoy to Syria Geir Pederson and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

That meeting also called for an inclusive and representative government that respects the rights of minorities and does not provide “a base for terrorist groups”, according to Blinken, who spoke at a press conference.

“Today’s agreement sends a unified message to the new interim authority and the new structures in Syria on important principles to gain much-needed support and recognition,” he said.

The talks follow the fall of al-Assad after a lightning attack by the opposition Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) last week.

Rebuilding institutions and building an inclusive Syria are key words from Arab diplomats who “concur with the positions of many other elites in Aqaba today”, said Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from the Jordanian capital, Amman.

“Nobody wants to see Syria go into several countries,” he added. “They want to see a stable Syria that can accept millions of refugees, and they are giving their support, political, financial and humanitarian.”

According to their statement, the Arab ministers said that the state institutions must be preserved to prevent Syria from “descending into chaos”, and they wanted to strengthen “efforts against terrorism … as it threatens Syria and the security of the region and the world”.

They also condemned the “Israeli attack on the protected area with Syria”, the airstrikes in Syria, and demanded the “withdrawal of Israeli forces” from the Syrian territory.

Inclusion is ‘important’

After the removal of al-Assad, the interim government installed by the rebels has insisted that the rights of all Syrians will be protected, as well as the rule of law.

This will be the basis of post-al-Assad Syria to avoid the mistakes of the past, according to Labib al-Nahhas, director of the Syrian Association for Citizens’ Dignity, which represents the rights of Syrian refugees.

“The key to success at this critical stage is to bring everyone together, and not bring the country back to one group or one person because that was the root of the problem we had – that was the root of how we got here after 50 years. years of dictatorship,” al-Nahhas told Al Jazeera.

“The behavior of the Syrian people as a whole, as well as the rebels, is to go to the cities, even to the minority areas. I think it was an example,” al-Nahhas said, adding that so far there have been widespread reports of retaliation or retaliatory actions.

The director said that the international community must play a role in protecting the process of integration of Syria.