ALBAWABA - The General Command said Tuesday that Ahmed al-Sharaa, the head of Syria's new government, has struck a deal with the leaders of several rebel factions to disband their organizations and combine them into a single military organization under the Ministry of Defense.
Sharaa and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan revealed intentions to create the Ministry of Defense and a committee of military leaders to design the new national army's organizational framework at a news conference in Damascus on Sunday. Sharaa underlined that the committee's work will be followed by the disbandment of all armed groupings.
Declaring that no weapon would be left outside of state control, Sharaa said, "The logic of the state is different from the logic of revolution."
Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader and Syria's caretaker government's defense minister, Merhaf Abu Qasra, reaffirmed that all opposition groups will be joining the new military organization. Abu Qasra told Agence France-Presse that the transitional administration will have jurisdiction over regions of northeastern Syria that are now occupied by Kurdish troops.
In order to show support for the new administration's goal of disbanding armed organizations and creating a single military, he said, HTS will be one of the first to disband its military branch.
Rebuilding the army and state is essential to Syria's rehabilitation after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad's government, Syrian affairs scholar Wael Alwan told Al Jazeera. He emphasized how crucial it is to make sure that all weapons are centralized under governmental control.
Fayez Al-Asmar, a security and strategic specialist, reiterated the idea, saying that the new government has to prioritize both internal and foreign national security. He emphasized how crucial it is to have strong security institutions, especially a cohesive military.
Following the withdrawal of government soldiers from the streets and public facilities, Syrian opposition groups seized control of Damascus on December 8. 53 years of dictatorial rule by the Assad family and 61 years of Baath Party dominance came to an end with this.
