Syria: Foreign fighters given senior army posts, reports say

Opponents of HTS had long accused it of being largely made up of foreign jihadists – a charge Assad supporters used to try to delegitimise the group as it mounted its final, decisive offensive against the regime.

But in the years that he ran the rebel enclave in Idlib, Ahmed al-Sharaa – the leader of HTS and now Syria – had been getting rid of some of those foreign fighters in a bid to bolster his group’s credentials as a nationalist rather than overtly jihadist force.

Since taking power al-Sharaa has repeatedly stressed the vision of a unified Syrian state, in which all communities must be respected and have a stake.

On Tuesday, a Syrian official said the first talks between members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and al-Sharaa since he became the most powerful man in Syria three weeks ago have now taken place and were positive.

The SDF is backed by the US and controls much of the north-east of Syria.

But Turkey, which has backed al-Sharaa’s group HTS, sees them as terrorists, which has raised fears of a looming confrontation.

Al-Sharaa has also met high level members of the Christian clergy. The Christian minority in Syria has long felt threatened by the rise of Islamic fundamentalism.

HTS once espoused such an ideology, but al-Sharaa has for some time embraced a more moderate stance.

He has stressed that he wants all communities to have a stake in Syria’s future and is preparing a National Dialogue Conference to try to ensure that this process can begin.