DAMASCUS: Syria’s new prime minister said the Islamist-led alliance that ousted president Bashar Al-Assad will “guarantee” the rights of all religious groups and called on the millions who fled the war to return home. Assad fled Syria after a lightning offensive spearheaded by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group and its allies, which brought to a spectacular end five decades of brutal rule by his clan.

Syrians across the country and around the world erupted in celebration, after enduring a stifling era during which anyone suspected of dissent could be thrown into jail or killed. With Assad’s overthrow plunging Syria into the unknown, its new rulers have sought to assure members of the country’s religious minorities that they will not repress them. They have also pledged justice for the victims of Assad’s iron-fisted rule, with HTS leader Abu Mohammed Al-Jolani vowing on Wednesday that officials involved in torturing detainees will not be pardoned.

Half a million people have been detained since the start of the war, with about 100,000 dying either under torture or due to poor detention conditions, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor. “We will not pardon those involved in torturing detainees,” said Jolani, now using his

real name Ahmed Al-Sharaa, urging “countries to hand over any of those criminals who may have fled so they can be brought to justice”.

In the corridors of Damascus’s main hospitals, thousands of families gathered to try to find the bodies of loved ones captured years ago by the authorities. “Where are our children?” women cried out as they grasped at the walls, desperate for closure after their years-long ordeal.

“Precisely because we are Islamic, we will guarantee the rights of all people and all sects in Syria,” said Mohammad Al-Bashir, whom the rebels appointed as the transitional head of government. Asked whether Syria’s new constitution would be Islamic, he told Italian daily Corriere della Sera that “we will clarify all these details during the constituent process”. Bashir, whose appointment was announced Tuesday, is tasked with heading the multi-ethnic, multi-confessional country until March 1.

After decades of rule by the Assads, members of the minority Alawite offshoot of Shiite Islam, Syrians now face the enormous challenge of charting a new course as they emerge from nearly 14 years of war. Roaming the opulent Damascus home of Assad, Abu Omar felt a sense of giddy defiance being in the residence of the man he said had long oppressed him. “I am taking pictures, because I am so happy to be here in the middle of his house,” said the 44-year-old. “I came for revenge. They oppressed us in incredible ways.”

In the Assads’ homtown Qardaha, the tomb of the former leader’s father Hafez was set alight, AFP footage showed, with rebel fighters in fatigues and young men watching it burn. The Syrian Observatory told AFP the rebels had set fire to the mausoleum, located in the Latakia heartland of Assad’s Alawite community. AFP footage showed parts of the mausoleum ablaze and damaged, with the tomb of Hafez torched and destroyed.

The vast elevated structure atop a hill has an intricate architectural design with several arches, its exterior embellished with ornamentation etched in stone. It also houses the tombs of other Assad family members, including Bashar’s brother Bassel, who was being groomed to inherit power before he was killed in a road accident in 1994.

The war has killed more than 500,000 people and forced half the population to flee their homes, with six million of them seeking refuge abroad. In his interview with Corriere della Sera, which was published on Wednesday, Bashir called on Syrians abroad to return to their homeland. “Mine is an appeal to all Syrians abroad: Syria is now a free country that has earned its pride and dignity. Come back,” he said. He said Syria’s new rulers would be willing to work with anyone so long as they did not defend Assad.

Bashir said he aimed to create unity and provide basic services. But rebuilding would be daunting with little funding on hand. “In the coffers there are only Syrian pounds worth little or nothing. One US dollar buys 35,000 of our coins,” he told Corriere della Sera. “We have no foreign currency and as for loans and bonds we are still collecting data. So yes, financially we are very bad,” said Bashir, who previously ran a small rebel-led administration in a pocket of northwestern Syria.

Assad was propped up by Russia, where he reportedly fled, as well as Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah group. On Wednesday, the Kremlin said it wanted to see rapid stabilization in Syria, as it criticized (the Zionist entity) over hundreds of air strikes it conducted on its neighbor over the past two days. “We would like to see the situation in the country stabilized somehow as soon as possible,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. Russia was continuing to discuss the fate of its military infrastructure in the country with Syria’s new leadership, he added.

Iran said Assad’s overthrow was the “product of a joint US-(Zionist) plot”. In a speech reported by state media, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei struck a defiant tone: “The more pressure you exert, the stronger the resistance becomes. The more crimes you commit, the more determined it becomes. The more you fight against it, the more it expands,” Khamenei said. Qatar said Wednesday it would reopen its embassy in Damascus “soon”, while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected in Turkey on Friday to discuss developments in Syria. – Agencies