Rubio warns that Syria can be away from ‘full civil war’ for weeks

The US State Secretary Marco Rubio has called on to support Syria’s transitional authorities, warning that the country could only be away from “potential collapse and a full civil war of epic proportions”.

During a hearing from the Senate Committee for Foreign Relations, he defended the decision of President Donald Trump last week to cancel Syria on Syria before he met President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, a former commander of Al-Qaeda who led the Rebellen-Offensive that refined al-assad in December.

The reason for Trump was that other countries wanted to help Sharaa’s government and send help, but were afraid of the sanctions, Rubio explained.

There was no immediate comments from Syrian officials.

The US imposed sanctions on Syria in response to atrocities committed by troops loyal to Assad during the devastating 13-year civil war of the country, in which more than 600,000 people were killed and 12 million others were forced from their homes.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had previously insisted on various conditions before they were canceled, including the protection of religious and ethnic minorities.

Although Sharaa has promised to do that, the country has been startled in recent months by two waves of fatal sectarian violence.

In March, nearly 900 citizens, mainly members of Assad’s Alawite-Sekt, were killed by pro-government troops in the western coastal region during the battle between security forces and former Loyalists, according to a monitoring group. The loyalists reportedly killed nearly 450 citizens and 170 security personnel.

And at the beginning of May, more than 100 people were reportedly killed in collisions of the Druze religious minority, the new security forces and Allied Sunni Islamic hunters in two suburbs of the capital Damascus and the southern province of Sueeida.

Even before the violence, many members of minority communities were concerned about the new transitional authorities, which are dominated by Sharaa’s Sunni Islamic group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). It is a former al-Qaeda branch that is still designated as a terrorist organization by the UN, the US, the EU and the UK.

Sharaa itself is also mentioned by the US as a “specially designated global terrorist”, although the Biden administration announced in December that the US would delete the premium of $ 10 million (£ 7.5 million) for its arrest.

Despite Sharaa’s past, Trump took the opportunity to meet him while he attended a top of golf leaders in Saudi Arabia last week.

Afterwards the US President said reporters that he was a “young, attractive guy”, and added: “Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter.”

“He has a real chance to contract it (Syria),” he said, adding, “It’s a torn country”.

In the meantime, Sharaa said that Trump’s decision to cancel the sanctions on Syria “was a historical and courageous decision that enlighten the suffering of the people, contributes to their rebirth and lays the foundation for stability in the region”.

Rubio spoke on Tuesday with the Senate Foreign Relations in Washington DC, “The bad news is that the figures of the Transitional Authority … did not pass on their background control with the FBI”.

“But on the other hand, if we involve them, it can’t work, it might not work. If we didn’t affect them, it would not be guaranteed to train,” he added.

“In fact, it is our assessment that, to be honest, the transitional authority, given the challenges with which they are confronted, may not be many months, away from potential collapse and a full civil war of epic proportions, in principle the country that splits.”

He did not go out, but said that the minorities of Syria “dealt with deep internal suspicion … because Assad deliberately compiled these groups against each other”.

He said the Trump decided to quickly lift the sanctions because “nations in the region want to get help, want to help them. And they can’t because they are afraid of our sanctions”.

As Rubio spoke, the Ministers of the European Union came in to also eliminate economic sanctions against Syria.

“We want to help the Syrian people rebuild a new, including and peacefully Syria,” wrote the foreign policy leader Kaja Kallas on X.

“The EU has always been with Syrians in the last 14 years- and will continue to do so.”

The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the decision “the start of a new chapter in Syrian-European relationships marked built on shared prosperity and mutual respect”.