Former Syrian soldiers apply for amnesty from interim government

Hundreds of former soldiers and officers from the previous Syrian government queued up outside reconciliation centres in Damascus on Saturday in the hope of clearing their status with the new interim government.

The centres have been set up as a part of a scheme to grant amnesty to those who did not take part in torture and killing during the government of ousted President Bashar al-Assad.

Ali Morshed, an former adjutant in the Syrian Army, was one of those applying for the reconciliation status.

“We hope they will reconsider our status, we were not behind any bloodshed, we were just serving the country a long time ago,” he said.

Major Walid Abedrabbo, an officer in the new interim government, said they opened two centres in the capital and were surprised with the turnout.

“They come to the centre, they hand over items related to their service [such as machine guns, pistols, IDs], then we give them new temporary reconciliation ID until we issue a permanent one,” he said.

While there have been some outbursts of deadly sectarian violence since Assad’s fall it is nothing close to what was feared after nearly 14 years of civil war.

In the days since Assad’s fall, dozens of Syrians have been killed in acts of revenge, according to activists and experts who monitor Syria.

Much credit for this relative calm is being given to the Islamic militant group that led the insurgency and is helping to rebuild the country and unite its many factions.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) had ties to al-Qaeda, but has vowed not to discriminate against any religion or ethnicity, and it has denounced revenge killings.