Syria is “not a threat to the world” its new Islamist leader tells BBC | BBC News

the head of the most powerful group in the Rebel Alliance now in control in Syria has told the BBC the country is exhausted by War and isn't a threat to its neighbors or the West akmed al- Shar led the lightning offensive that toppled President Bashar al-assad less than two weeks ago he's the leader of the hayat Taria al-sham or HTS group of rebels in recent days he's been trying to allay fears a new government might restrict the rights of women and he says the group is no longer linked to Al-Qaeda many syrians however are skeptical

well ammed al- sharab has been speaking to Jeremy Bowen who's live for us tonight in Damascus Jeremy thanks very much Clive well akura has a long history as a jihadist fighter and in fact as a senior leader going back to the Insurgency against the Americans in Iraq 20 odd years ago so he has form he says he has changed breaking with al-Qaeda in 2016 and he presents his organization as a an islamist group but Nationalist and tolerant of Syria's other sects other faiths so people though as we've been hearing are skeptical about all of that

now to talk to to to the BBC he invited us in fact to one of the symbols of the old regime the de facto leader of Syria Ahmed Asar chose to do the interview in the presidential Palace built by the assads he told me he wasn't surprised that the old regime collapsed so quickly syrians he said needed to keep calm to tackle all the problems they face you've made a lot of promises you said that you'll respect uh the Mosaic of of different sectarian groups here in Syria minorities as well are you going to keep

those promises the Syrian population has lived together for thousands of years we're going to discuss all of it we're going to have dialogue and make sure everyone is represented the old regime always played on sectarian divisions but we won't we were welcomed in all the big cities by all the sects I think the revolution can contain everybody so this isn't going to be some kind of a caliphate or you're not going to make Syria into a country like Afghanistan because you know that there are people who say that maybe you want to behave like the

Taliban there are many differences between Syria and the Taliban the way we govern is different Afghanistan is a tribal Community Syria is completely different the people just don't think in the same way the Syrian government and the ruling system will be in line with Syria's history and culture so the culture of Syria includes rights for women it includes education for women it includes tolerance for people drinking alcohol is that all acceptable to you when it comes to women's education of course we've had universities in idli for more than eight years I think the percentage of

women in universities is more than 60% and alcohol there are many things I just don't have the right to talk about because they are legal issues there will be a Syrian Committee of legal experts to write a constitution they will decide and any ruler or president will have to follow the law um let's talk about wider issues that you face first of all this country is broken uh there is massive amount of Destruction the economy is destroyed there are huge debts how do you begin to start dealing with all of that when you are when

the country is under sanctions and when major Powers around the world and the United Nations say that you are the leader of a terrorist group that's a political classification we haven't committed any crimes that justify calling us a terrorist group in the last 14 years we haven't targeted any civilians or civilian areas or civilian targets I understand some countries will be worried by that designation but it's not true now after all that has happened sanctions must be lifted because they were targeted at the old regime the victim and the oppressor should not be treated in

the same way now AK struck me as a highly intelligent and politically sophisticated man and like a lot of politicians he seemed reluctant quite often to give a straight answer to a straight question so I don't necessarily think he is immediately going to be reassuring all of the the doubters I spoke to the UN special Envoy to Syria today and he said give them three months that's the period of the interim government give him the benefit of the doubt until then of course he also made the point it has only been 12 days since they

took over this country