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Source: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/one-year-after-assad-is-the-west-celebrating-a-mirage/
A Year into al-Sharaa's Regime in Syria: Is the West Celebrating a Mirage?
(Times of Israel) Faraj Alexandre Rifai - Dec. 8 marks the first anniversary of the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the arrival to power of Ahmed al-Sharaa - an event celebrated in many Western capitals as the beginning of a new era. I hope this aspiration comes true. After 15 years of war, economic collapse and social fragmentation, who would not wish to see the emergence of a pragmatic leader eager to rebuild his country? But one year later, the results are not there. Certainly, al-Sharaa masters the codes of a head of state. He speaks of economy, administration, foreign investment; he presents himself as open to regional dialogue, including, verbally, with Israel. But beneath this varnish lies the fact that the new Syrian power was not born of any democratic process, but of an internal compromise between Islamist factions supported by Turkey and Qatar. In other words, Syria has not broken with the ideological matrix that fueled the worst excesses of the past decade; it has merely reconfigured it into a form of Islamism with more moderate appearances. The notion of a "moderate" Islamism is a fiction. It failed in Egypt, produced a terror-based dictatorship in Gaza, paralyzed Tunisia, and allowed militias to flourish in Syria and Iraq. Can one reasonably believe that a figure emerging from a jihadist network, even equipped with a skillful communication strategy, could transform himself into a guarantor of regional stability? And would he, in the current configuration, have the means to impose his will upon the militias that control Syria's security apparatus? The reality on the ground is that one year after Assad's fall there is coercion of minorities, increasing pressure on the Druze, religious courts, informal taxation, collusion with Turkish and Qatari networks, active presence of Islamist militias stemming from al-Qaeda, and repeated threats against Israel. The regime speaks the language of compromise but governs according to the codes that brought it to power. And the more the West multiplies gestures of recognition, the more this system feels free to act without constraint. International aid must be tied to measurable transformation: progressive disarmament of factions, guarantees for minorities, credible engagement in a security process with Israel, a clear break with jihadist networks, financial transparency, and the establishment of a genuinely inclusive institutional model. Without clear requirements, the West will not consolidate a transition: it will nourish a monster.