Al-Raya Newspaper: "Civil Peace" Conference in Damascus
Skipped the Facts and Exonerated the Henchmen of the Defunct Regime
On Tuesday, June 10, 2025, the "Civil Peace Committee" held a press conference at the Ministry of Information building in Damascus to discuss the latest developments related to the committee's work. The conference was managed by committee member Hassan Soufan, with the attendance of Interior Ministry spokesman Nour al-Din al-Baba and Information Minister Hamza Mustafa. Soufan opened the conference by raising the issue of officers recently released from the ranks of the defunct regime, explaining that they had joined the military action since 2021 and had voluntarily surrendered themselves across the Iraqi border and the Al-Sukhnah area within what is known as the "Entrustment" case. They underwent investigations that did not prove their responsibility for war crimes, and Soufan stressed that continuing to detain them has no legal justification and does not serve the national interest, especially in light of the sensitivity of the security situation in areas such as the coast. He stressed that their release comes within procedures aimed at strengthening civil peace and is not an alternative to transitional justice.
Local media sites circulated that the release was mediated by the former leader of what is known as the National Defense Militia, Fadi Saqr, who is accused of committing war crimes against civilians during the era of the former regime. Meanwhile, Socrates al-Rahia, one of the released detainees accused of committing war crimes in the cities of Jobar and Madaya in Damascus and its countryside, published a video clip thanking Fadi Saqr for his mediation in the release, which sparked public anger on social media.
Soufan said that the presence of controversial figures such as Fadi Saqr, who is a leader of a militia affiliated with the former regime forces, within this path sometimes contributes to resolving security and (social) complexities, despite the committee's understanding of the feelings of anger among the families of martyrs and victims.
This press conference has sparked a wide wave of overwhelming anger among Syrians, especially among the families of martyrs, the missing, and the sons of the revolution, due to its positions that many considered a compounded injustice, a clear provocation to the families of the victims, a disregard for the sacrifices of the revolutionaries, a disdain for the blood of their martyrs, a skipping over the glaring facts and realities, explicit justifications for war criminals, and normalization with the symbols of the defunct regime under the slogan of "civil peace" and "averting bloodshed." This general state of anger came after Soufan's statements during the conference, in which he defended the policy of releasing a number of former regime officers and not holding them accountable through public courts according to the law, foremost among them Fadi Saqr, ignoring their bloody record, but Soufan went so far as to consider some of these as partners in victory, considering that some of them contributed to "averting Syrian blood" and "cooperating with the military operations command during the liberation battles," demanding that those who criticize them provide "reliable evidence" of their involvement in the crimes. The poet was right when he said: Nothing makes sense to understanding * If the day needs proof!
As soon as Soufan announced the acquittal of these officers, pages and social media were filled with visual documentations and evidence proving the involvement of a number of those released, foremost among them Fadi Saqr and Socrates al-Rahia, in murders and flagrant violations against civilians. However, what angered people the most was Soufan's statement that figures such as Fadi Saqr play a role in dismantling complexities, solving problems, and facing the dangers facing the country, and that transitional justice does not mean holding accountable everyone who served the regime, and accountability is for the major criminals who carried out serious crimes and violations, and that the integration of controversial figures within the reconciliation process comes from the perspective of trying to address the structural crises in the country, and that granting security to Fadi Saqr was after assessing the general situation, and that he was given security by the leadership instead of being arrested based on an assessment of the scene, as a means to prevent bloodshed in the hot areas, and to reassure the community incubators.
This press conference came as a confirmation of the current administration's course of action for the transitional phase and its policy, whether in dealing with the remnants of the regime or changing its position on the constants and goals of the revolution, or its handling of the demands of the people of the revolution to achieve justice and hold accountable those involved in shedding innocent blood, which led many to say that no party has the right to waive the rights of the victims or forgive on their behalf for their blood and honor, or to equate the executioner with the victim, while warning of the exacerbation of matters as a result of underestimating the feelings of the families of the martyrs and the missing as they see the release of the symbols of the criminals one after the other, considering this pardon "partnership in the crime."
The lifting of sanctions file was an American-European file pressing on the current administration to impose their vision for governance and its direction and control its rhythm, starting from "combating terrorism" to the secularism of the state, to violating its sovereignty by keeping it linked to the West and what it decides for us in terms of decisions and what it imposes on us in terms of dictates, to gradually integrating the remnants of the defunct regime and its thugs into state institutions under various pretexts, slogans, and flimsy justifications.
As for polishing the criminal Fadi Saqr and others like him in public and without any embarrassment, it is a blatant provocation to the feelings of Syrians, especially his appearance next to the Governor of Damascus and what that entails in terms of implications and what it sends in terms of messages. Instead of prosecuting those involved according to a clear and rapid criminalization law, recourse is made to anesthetizing and booby-trapped initiatives in the name of dialogue, national unity, social peace, and civil reconciliation, as if the events of 14 years were a civil war and not one of the greatest revolutions in history!
It is a blatant paradox that at a time when a handful of people with a criminal history against the revolution and its people are at the forefront of the scene, a large number of advocates, prisoners of opinion, revolutionaries, and mujahideen are still unjustly languishing in the prisons of Idlib for years, just as a large number of our people in the displacement camps who have been stranded do not have the price of returning to their homes to build their houses destroyed at the hands of those who changed their skins and their roles changed.
The appearance of Fadi Saqr and many of the leaders during the era of the defunct regime at the forefront of those calling for civil peace, and providing them with security protection, in addition to the major merchants and major war criminals known for their loyalty and support for the defunct regime, who have returned to Damascus recently, in addition to the loyalists from the thugs, artists, and personalities who supported the fleeing tyrant for many years and called brazenly and immorally for murder and destruction, and are still safe and unpunished under the pretext of "civil peace," all of this fuels feelings of hatred and anger among the general Syrian population, especially the families of the martyrs and the missing.
The incubator of the revolution and its strength that it derives from its faith and creed is the natural support after God for any rule that wants glory in Islam, but denying this incubator and what it has offered in terms of blood and sacrifices, thinking that the satisfaction of America and the West is the gateway to salvation, is a dangerous slip and an evil that will affect its misfortune and harm everyone, God forbid, and God has shown us in His Book how to deal in principle with our enemies who are lying in wait for us.
The revolution of Al-Sham took place to end the era of injustice and the unjust, and it established a number of goals and constants, so that justice, security, safety, tranquility, prosperity, and dignity would be achieved, so that people would enjoy a life full of honor, victory, and empowerment, and this will not be, after achieving the first of these constants, which is the overthrow of the defunct regime, except by implementing Islam through the state of Islam and the rules of religion, its laws and legislations, through a system emanating from the core of our faith, which our Lord has commanded us, not through a secular system that separates religion from life, the state, and society, which the West wants to impose on us, pleases our enemies, makes us miserable, and returns us to the first square of misery, injustice, wretchedness, and dependence on the enemies of the nation in the east and west of the earth.
﴿INDEED IN THAT IS A REMINDER FOR WHOEVER HAS A HEART OR WHO LISTENS WHILE HE IS PRESENT [IN MIND]﴾
By: Professor Nasser Sheikh Abdul Hai
Member of the Media Office of Hizb ut-Tahrir in the Wilayah of Syria
Source: Al-Raya Newspaper
