European envoys said to the Foreign Minister: Our support for you could evaporate!

Three European envoys made clear during a March 11 meeting with Foreign Minister Asaad al Shaibani in Damascus that their top priority is to curb jihadist fighters, and that international support for the nascent administration could evaporate unless decisive action is taken, in a meeting which wasn’t previously disclosed.

When asked about the message conveyed in Damascus, French Foreign Ministry said, “The violations that have occurred in recent days are truly intolerable, and those responsible must be identified and condemned… There is no blank check for the new authorities”.

According to Reuters who spoke to the three European envoys, as well as four regional officials, during a visit to Damascus.

They all emphasized that the authorities must impose security control throughout the country and prevent a recurrence of the killings.

One of the European envoys who conveyed the message said, “We demanded accountability… Those who committed the massacres must be punished… The security forces must be purged”.

Washington also called on Syria’s leaders to hold the perpetrators of the attacks accountable, as US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said they are monitoring the interim authority’s actions to determine US policy toward Syria.

However, the problem facing the new Syrian leadership, according to two Western government assessments, is that, Hay’at Tahrir al Sham, which contains about 20,000 fighters, leaving Ahmed al Sharaa dependent on tens of thousands of fighters from other groups—including the same hardline jihadist factions he is tasked with fighting—and moving against them could plunge Syria into a new war, according to five diplomats and three analysts.

Thousands of foreign fighters, mostly Sunni Muslims from countries such as China, Albania, Russia, and Pakistan, joined the Syrian opposition early in the civil war to fight the rule of Bashar al Assad and Iranian-backed Shiite militias, giving the conflict a sectarian edge.

One of the reasons why al Sharaa now relies on a relatively small force of about 20,000 fighters from various groups, including foreign jihadists, is that he dissolved the army after taking power.

Although the move was intended to turn the page on five decades of authoritarian rule by the Assad family, diplomats and analysts said it echoed Washington’s decision to dissolve the Iraqi army after the fall of Saddam Hussein, potentially leading to similar chaos.

This move, coupled with mass layoffs in the public sector, has deepened divisions in Syria and deprived hundreds of thousands of people of income, potentially pushing trained soldiers to join rebel groups or remain unemployed, further destabilizing the situation, according to five European and Arab officials.

In addition to the challenge of calming sectarian violence, al Sharaa must also deal with a host of foreign powers—from the United States to Russia, Israel, Türkiye, and Iran—that have turned Syria into an arena for geopolitical conflict.

Türkiye controls the north and supports opposition forces while suppressing Kurdish ambitions.

Kurdish forces backed by Washington control the east and its vital oil fields.

Israel, meanwhile, exploited Assad’s fall to strengthen its military foothold.

It now controls a 400-square-kilometer demilitarized buffer zone, supports the Druze minority, and opposes the Syrian leadership.

In response to the massacres of civilians, al Sharaa established an investigation committee and pledged to punish those responsible, even if they were close to him, but any action against the jihadists who carried out the massacres could ignite internal conflicts, score-settling, and a power struggle—placing the new government in a paradox, according to diplomats and analysts.

“It’s clear that al Sharaa doesn’t control foreign jihadists and doesn’t have the final say,” according to Marwan Muasher, vice president at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“What is clear is that the massacres were committed by Salafi jihadists who do not listen to what Sharia says,” he added.

Although diplomats view the investigation as a step in the right direction, they said its credibility would have been stronger if observers from the United Nations or international bodies had participated.

In related context, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and her Austrian counterpart Gerhard Karner canceled a planned visit to the Syrian capital, Damascus, today due to warnings of a potential terrorist threat.

The German Interior ministry said in a statement that the decision was made before the two ministers boarded their flight from the Jordanian capital, Amman, based on information received by German security services about an immediate threat, according to Der Spiegel magazine.

A German Air Force jet was ready to transport the minister and her accompanying delegation from Jordan to Syria early in the morning, but the threats prompted German and Austrian authorities to cancel the flight.

A German Interior Ministry spokesperson stated that the threat targeting the German and Austrian security delegation could not be ignored or handled with an adequate level of security.

The spokesperson noted that the visit had not been announced in advance to maintain secrecy and security, but that the intelligence received was sufficient to deem its implementation risky.

According to Der Spiegel magazine, the visit was arranged in complete secrecy and included meetings with Syrian ministers and UN representatives. As the purpose was to discuss the humanitarian situation and coordinate international efforts.

However, security warnings forced German and Austrian authorities to cancel the trip shortly before the delegation’s departure from Amman, despite extensive preparations to ensure the visit’s safety.