Syria’s quest for national unity seems simple enough on paper, principles of diversity & inclusivity almost perfect. But the reality is significantly different where you have 10 years of prisoners having to sit across their captives and persecutors.

Syria’s quest for national unity

The Paris conference to chart Syria’s political future will include all segments of Syrian society except for the Kurdish-led administration in the northeast and loyalists of the repressive former government of Bashar Assad.

Interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa has promised to launch an inclusive political process to set up a new constitution and representative government for all Syrians.

Syria’s revenge attacks are going to be key to future negotiations

Since the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad in December, social networks in Syria have been flooded with images purportedly showing revenge attacks against Syrians who supported his brutal regime.

It is hard for Syrians to figure out what is really going on in the videos. HTS authorities deny targeting members of the Alawite community because they are Alawites. They say they are going after former members of Assad’s army and security forces who have refused to surrender and turn in their weapons. However, they do acknowledge there have been some abuses.

Getting everyone to sit together and ‘forgive and moveon’ will be a challenge for all parties, as the population is hungry for justice.

The United Nations has said it is trying to document attacks against Alawites or other Syrian minorities but there is no reliable count for the time being.