Global leaders urge calm, stability after rebels oust Assad regime

Islamist-led rebels toppled Syria’s longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad Sunday in a lightning offensive that a United Nations envoy called “a watershed moment” for the nation marred by civil war.

From around the world, leaders urged Syrians to strive for stability and calm while warning of the dangers facing the country amid a possible power vacuum after it woke to find it is no longer under the rule of the Assad family, which clung to power for over 50 years.

In some countries, local Syrians took to the streets to celebrate.

“President Biden and his team are closely monitoring the extraordinary events in Syria and staying in constant touch with regional partners,” the White House said in a statement.

“The United States will continue to maintain its presence in eastern Syria and will take measures necessary to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East Daniel Shapiro told the Manama Dialogue security conference in Bahrain.

Shapiro called on all parties to protect civilians, particularly minorities, and respect international norms.

President-elect Donald Trump said the US should not get involved and claimed that Assad, who ruled Syria for 24 years, had been abandoned by his ally Russia.

“Assad is gone. He has fled his country. His protector, Russia, Russia, Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, was not interested in protecting him any longer,” Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social. “Russia and Iran are in a weakened state right now, one because of Ukraine and a bad economy, the other because of Israel and its fighting success.”

“Today marks a watershed moment in Syria’s history — a nation that has endured nearly 14 years of relentless suffering and unspeakable loss,” United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen said in a statement.

Assad fled the capital but his whereabouts were unknown, with the rebels claiming he died when his plane went down as he was leaving the country, while Russia asserted that he had departed safely.

UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said events are “moving at remarkable pace” and noted that the years of conflict in Syria have displaced millions.

“We will respond wherever, whenever, however we can to support people in need, including reception centers – food, water, fuel, tents, blankets,” Fletcher said.

Syrians will have to cope with a full-scale civil war alone, Konstantin Kosachyov, deputy chairman of Russia’s upper house of parliament said on Sunday, while suggesting that Moscow was ready to support the Syrian people in certain circumstances.

Kosachyov, a veteran Russian expert in international affairs, predicted that the civil war in Syria would not end with Assad’s departure and that tough times were ahead.

“Syria is a very difficult story, for everyone without exception. One way or another, the civil war will not end today, there are too many opposing interests and too many opposing forces. Including outright terrorist groups. And that is why the hardest part is ahead again,” he wrote on his official Telegram channel.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, whose country shares a border with Syria, said at a press conference in Doha, Qatar, that Syria has reached a stage where the Syrian people will shape the future of their own country and called for “all actors to act with prudence and to be watchful.”

“The Syrian people cannot do this alone,” Fiden said. “A new Syrian administration must be established inclusively, there should be no desire for revenge.”

“Terrorist organizations must not be allowed to take advantage of this situation,” he cautioned while stressing that “any extension of the outlawed PKK militia cannot be considered a legitimate counterpart in Syria,” a reference to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which Turkey, the US, the European Union and some other countries designate it as a terrorist organization.

Fiden said that Ankara has been in contact with rebels in Syria to ensure the Islamic State group and PKK cannot expand thereafter anti-government forces took Damascus.

Meanwhile, the head of US-backed Kurdish-led forces in Syria hailed Assad’s fall.

“This change presents an opportunity to build a new Syria based on democracy and justice that secures the rights of all Syrians,” Mazloum Abdi, the leader of the Syrian Democratic Forces, said in a written statement, praising the fall of the “authoritarian regime in Damascus.”

The Kurdish-led group has a significant presence in northeastern Syria, where is has clashed with the extremist Islamic State group and Turkish-backed militias over the years.

Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said Assad’s ouster is a “welcome change” but now “we have to have a political solution where the government is acting in the interests of the Syrian people. That’s what we want to see.”

Rayner said she hopes that Syria will embrace the type of democracy “that we say is right for the world, and that, hopefully, is what the Syrian people will get.”

France’s President Emmanuel Macron said, “The barbaric state has finally fallen” and “I pay tribute to the Syrian people, to their courage, to their patience.”

The French foreign ministry welcomed news of the fall of Assad and called for fighting to end and a peaceful political transition in the country.

“Now is the time for unity in Syria,” the ministry said in a statement.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that while the situation is unclear, the overthrowing of the government is “the first big sigh of relief after an eternity of atrocities committed by the Assad regime.”

“Assad has murdered, tortured and used poison gas against his own people,” she said. “He must finally be held accountable for this.”

“The country must not now fall into the hands of other radicals — regardless of the guise,” Baerbock warned. “We therefore call on the parties to the conflict to live up to their responsibility for all Syrians” with “comprehensive protection of ethnic and religious minorities” along with “an inclusive political process that creates a balance between the groups.”

Italian Foreign Minister Antoni Tajani said he is “following with concerned attention the evolution of the situation in Syria” and is in constant contact with the embassy in Damascus.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Abares said: “The situation appears to be peaceful. Spain has always hoped for a peaceful solution for Syria.”

Egypt called on all parties in Syria to preserve the capabilities of the state and national institutions, the Egyptian foreign ministry said.

The ministry, in the first comments on the situation in Syria from an Arab government, said it is following the situation with great care, affirming its support for the Syrian people and the country’s sovereignty and unity.

A senior United Arab Emirates official urged Syrians to collaborate in order to avert a spiral into chaos.

“We hope that the Syrians will work together, that we don’t just see another episode of impending chaos,” presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said at the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain.

Elsewhere, China’s foreign ministry said it hopes Syria “returns to stability as soon as possible” in the wake of the overthrow.

Beijing “is closely following the development of the situation in Syria and hopes that Syria returns to stability as soon as possible,” the ministry said.

Moammar al-Eryani, information minister of Yemen’s internationally recognized government in exile, touted the developments in Syria as proof that Iran’s efforts for regional control are deflating.

Iran’s “expansionist project, which used sectarian militias as tools to complete the Persian Crescent, sow chaos, undermine the sovereignty of states…is collapsing,” he said.

He also expressed hope that Yemenis will drive out the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s north in 2014.