Syrian rebel leader says he will dissolve toppled regime forces, close prisons

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Syrian rebel leader says he will dissolve toppled regime forces, close prisons

DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Syrian rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa – better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani – told Reuters in a written statement on Wednesday that he would dissolve the security forces of the toppled regime of Bashar al-Assad.

His forces swept across Syria in a lightning offensive that overthrew 50 years of Assad family rule, replacing it with a three-month transitional government of ministers that had been ruling a rebel enclave in Syria’s northwest.

The military command affiliated with his group, which is known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, already said they would grant an amnesty to military conscripts.

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He would now also “dissolve the security forces of the previous regime and close the notorious prisons,” Sharaa said in a statement shared exclusively with Reuters by his office.

Syrians have flocked to the infamous prisons where the Assad regime is estimated to have held tens of thousands of detainees, desperately looking for their loved ones. Some have been released alive, others were identified among the dead and thousands more have not yet been found.

Sharaa also said he was closely following up on possible chemical weapons depots and coordinating with international organisations to secure them. The group had already announced it would not use those weapons under any circumstances.

He reiterated that he would form a government of technocrats. The current transitional government is set to rule until March 2025, according to a statement by his group.

(This story has been refiled to say ‘prisons,’ not ‘prison,’ in paragraph 4)

(Reporting by Maya Gebeily and Timour Azhari; editing by Diane Craft)

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