In 2011, Bashar al-Assad brutally crushed a peaceful pro-democracy uprising, triggering a devastating civil war that killed more than half a million people and displaced 12 million.
Hafez al-Assad ruled Syria ruthlessly from 1971 until his death in 2000, when power passed to his son.
He was born and raised in an Alawite family, an offshoot of Shiite Islam and a religious minority in Syria whose main population center is in Latakia province on the Mediterranean coast near the border with Turkey.
Many Alawites – who make up about 10% of the country’s population – were staunch supporters of the Assads during their long rule.
Some now fear they could be targeted by the victorious rebels.
On Monday, a rebel delegation with members of HTS and another Sunni Muslim group, the Free Syrian Army, met with Kardakh elders and received their support, Reuters reported.
The rebel delegation signed a document in which Reuters highlighted Syria’s religious and cultural diversity.
HTS and allied rebel groups seized control of the Syrian capital Damascus on Sunday after years of civil war.
HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who has now started using his real name, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is a former jihadist who cut ties with al-Qaeda in 2016. He recently promised tolerance for different religious groups and communities.
The UN’s Syria envoy said rebels must turn their “good messages” into practice on the ground.
Meanwhile, the US secretary of state said Washington would recognize and fully support a future Syrian government if it emerges through a credible, inclusive process that respects minorities.
HTS has appointed a transitional government led by Mohammed al-Bashir, the former head of the rebel administration in the northwest, until March 2025.
Bashir chaired the meeting in Damascus on Tuesday attended by members of his new government and members of Assad’s former cabinet to discuss the transfer of portfolios and institutions.
