The UK Welcomes The Fall Of Assad's Regime – But The Government Now Has Some Tough Decisions To Make

Keir Starmer now has some difficult choices to make after the fall of the Syrian regime.

Syrian rebels have overturned the authoritarian leadership of Bashar al-Assad in less than two weeks after 50 years of oppressive rule.

The prime minister said on Sunday that the UK welcomes the fall of the “barbaric regime” in the Middle Eastern country.

The UK is not directly involved in Syria as parliament voted against military action in the war-torn country in 2013.

But, it remains unclear how the UK – and the wider west – will grapple with a new regime in Syria when it comes to diplomacy.

Here are just three matters which the government may have to deal with in the coming months as Syrian rebels try to fill the power vacuum.  

1. Will Labour remove the leading rebel force in Syria from the proscribed terrorist list?

The Syrian force which led the rebellion against Assad, Hayat Tahir al Sham (HTS), is currently considered an alternative name for al Qaeda on the UK’s list of banned terrorist organisations.

That means the UK could not negotiate with the group unless it was removed from the proscription list.

HTS’s founder Abu Muhammed al Jolani cut ties with al Qaeda in 2016.

He has tried to present the group as a more moderate force and said he had no intention of waging war against the West in 2021.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden told Sky News this morning that the government will now “consider” removing HTS from the list of terrorist groups.

He said: “I think it will partly depend on what happens in terms of how that group behaves now.

“I think countries around the world who proscribe HTS – It’s not just the UK, the United States, European countries as well – I think probably will look at that now, and see what’s going to happen in the future.

“It won’t take that long. I think we need to do it quickly.”

2. What happens if Syria’s First Lady, a British passport holder, tries to come to the UK?

Assad’s wife, Asma al-Assad, was born and raised in London – meaning she has a British passport.

She married Assad the same year he took control of Syria after his authoritarian father Hafez al-Assad died.

The couple now have three children together, and there is no suggestion (outside of the Syrian leader himself) that his family have been involved in any wrongdoing.

Their family is believed to have fled to Russia, but the Syrian First Lady’s connection to Britain means she could try to relocate here.

According to the Daily Mail, the family still owns a £1m terraced house in west London, where she grew up.

Her family are not covered by UK sanctions although her parents and brothers are named in wider US sanctions.

Asked on LBC, McFadden claimed there’s been no “contact or no request” for Asma to return to the UK.

“The family are in Russia as far as we know, that’s what Russian state media have said,” he said.

“We’ve certainly had no contact or no request for Mr Assad’s wife to come to the UK.

“I couldn’t comment on her individual rights.

“I don’t know her exact circumstances, so I don’t know what would happen in those circumstances, but it’s not something that’s been raised with us.”

Pressed on what would happen if she could try to come to the UK, he said: “From the point of view of the UK government, our main concern at the moment is what the future is, whether the rights of citizens and minorities are protected and whether stability can come to a country that has had so much violence and war over the past 15 years.”

3. What does this mean for Shamima Begum?

Shamima Begum left the UK – where she was raised – in 2015, aged 15, to join the so-called Islamic State and married a jihadist in Syria just 10 days later.

She was discovered by the British press in 2019, when she was pregnant with her third child, whom she wanted to raise in the UK. Her two older children had already died at this point.

Although she asked for forgiveness from the UK, and said she still supported “some British values”, she was stripped of her British citizenship by then home secretary Sajid Javid in 2019.

The Tory government argued she still held Bangladeshi citizenship through her parents and so it was lawful to remove her British links.

She has been living in a refugee camp in northern Syria since although her lawyers have repeatedly tried to contest this claim so Begum can return to the UK.

When asked if Begum could now return to the UK this morning, McFadden pointed out that the rebel groups which control the north of Syria are different to the ones which seized the capital.

It is difficult to say at the moment what will happen to those camps,” he said, but added the government has “no plans” to bring Begum back “right now”.