Rebel fighters stand next to the burning gravesite of Syria's late president Hafez al-Assad at his mausoleum in the family's ancestral village of Qardaha in the western Latakia province, after it was stormed by opposition factions. Photo / AFP
Rebel fighters stand next to the burning gravesite of Syria's late president Hafez al-Assad at his mausoleum in the family's ancestral village of Qardaha in the western Latakia province, after it was stormed by opposition factions. Photo / AFP
Rebel fighters set fire to Hafez al-Assad’s coffin in a symbolic act in Syria.
Mohammed al-Jolani vowed to punish those responsible for torture and killings in Syrian prisons.
Interim Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir urged Syrian refugees to return to help rebuild the country.
Pictures and videos showed men circling the burning remains in the marble-clad mausoleum that was the last resting place of Hafez al-Assad, who ruled Syria for 29 years.
Other fighters dressed in military fatigues posed holding the flag of the revolution over the charred remnants inside the mausoleum in the village of Qardaha, the Assad family’s ancestral home.
Stepping on Hafez’s coffin, which was later dragged into a carpark, one fighter declared it was “revenge for my killed cousins”.
Another video showed a giant statue of Hafez being shot at with an anti-aircraft gun.
The former Air Force pilot took power in a military coup in 1971, beginning more than half a century of brutal and bloody rule under the house of Assad.
That came to an end when a rebel coalition toppled Bashar al-Assad’s Government over the weekend, sparking huge celebrations across the country and sorrow too, as stark evidence of decades of atrocities came to light.
In Damascus on Wednesday, families searched for clues to loved ones’ fates, trying to identify disfigured bodies found in a hospital morgue at the notorious Sednaya prison, where torture and mass executions were common.
Dozens of blackened, decomposing corpses, some with missing limbs or heads, were found overnight by rescuers digging for hidden cells.
Mohammed al-Jolani, the leader of the chief rebel faction Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), vowed on Wednesday to punish those responsible.
Although an amnesty has been announced for all regime conscripts, Jolani said that those who were involved in torturing and killing detainees in Syrian prisons will not be pardoned, and asked neighbouring countries to hand over those who fled.
The international community is now watching as HTS, a former al-Qaeda affiliate, and a transitional Government begin the task of rebuilding a new Syria from the ashes of the Assad regime.
In his first interview, Mohammed al-Bashir, the interim Prime Minister, called for the millions of Syrian refugees around the world to return home.
“My appeal goes out to all Syrians abroad: Syria is now a free country that has regained its pride and dignity. Come back. We need to rebuild, to get our country on its feet again, and we need everyone’s help,” he told Corriere Della Sera, the Italian newspaper.
He added that his other top priorities were restoring security and stability so people can “return and resume their normal lives” and “strategic planning” to provide basic services.
A Syrian man waving the independence-era Syrian flag at Damascus' central Umayyad Square. Photo / AFP
Finance is among biggest challenges
Bashir, who has been appointed to run the country until March 1, also echoed pledges made by Jolani that the new regime would guarantee the “rights of all people and communities in Syria”.
But key questions include whether they can avert revenge attacks following the bitter civil war and decades of repression, often based on sectarian and ethnic lines.
Bashir added that one of the biggest challenges the new Government faces is Syria’s limited finances.
“In the vaults, there are only Syrian pounds worth little or nothing. One US dollar buys 35,000 of our coins,” Bashir said. “We have no foreign currency and as for loans and bonds, we are still collecting data. So yes, financially we are very bad.”
Two US congressmen have urged senior officials in Washington to suspend some economic sanctions on Syria to ease pressure on its shattered economy, while the UK suggested it was also rethinking its designation of HTS as a terrorist group.
In apparent signs that HTS is keen to de-escalate, Jolani met with the leaders of other southern rebel groups on Wednesday, a move considered key to avoiding future tensions.
