Days after the ousted Bashar al-Assad regime was gone, his soldiers waited in large lines in the newly established HTS reconciliation center in Latakia to get amnesty.
Thousands of former soldiers and police officers gathered this week at the newly established reconciliation center in Syria’s port city of Latakia, once considered one of the strongholds of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad before rebels overthrew him.
The center operated by Syria’s new transitional government led by the rebel coalition Hayat Tahrir al-Sham will mark a watershed for the war-torn nation, marking amnesty for rank-and-file members of the former regime when they surrender arms and renounce ties to Assad.
It was at this time that HTS consolidated its grip on power following the ouster of Assad’s decades-long rule marked by systemic repression, including torture and executions of dissenters. Despite the promises of HTS to prosecute senior regime officials who were implicated in crimes, the amnesty program seeks to pardon conscripted soldiers and lower-ranking personnel, a move to help ease their reintegration into society.
The Latakia reconciliation center, one of the first of its kind, opened its doors on Sunday. By Monday, more than 600 people had lined up, some waiting hours in the cold to start clearing their names. “This is only the first step,” said one supervisor, adding that similar centers would soon open nationwide.
According to reports, the inside of the compound saw a meticulous and symbolic process. Every person received a numbered ticket, which they held for a mugshot as part of their temporary identification. At intake desks, officials recorded personal details while former soldiers handed over weapons through secured windows. One man, carrying a Soviet-era machine gun too large to fit through the slot, had to present it directly at the door.
