An interview with the military commander of Syria’s new masters

IN THE ADMINISTRATIVEHTSHTSHTSHTSHTSHTSHTSHTSHTS building of a small Alawite town on Syria’s Mediterranean coast sits Abu Hassan al-Hamawi, a bearded Islamist. He is the military commander of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham () and is largely responsible for the group’s sweeping conquest of much of Syria in recent weeks.On December 12th Mr Hamawi spoke to , his first interview since and others . He says that he wants to protect Syria’s minorities, bring its militias under government control and unify a country shattered by 14 years of war. The commander sipped tea, a Kalashnikov strapped to his chest, as he discussed his time in Idlib and elsewhere in Syria during its revolution-turned-civil-war, and the group’s years of preparations for their recent assault. He spent years developing ’s drone unit, developing its capabilities for manufacturing armed versions in Idlib. Mr Hamawi says he personally named the weapons Shaheen, Arabic for falcon. His quiet demeanour seems rather at odds with ’s fearsome reputation.Just a week ago, Mr Hamawi was celebrating , Syria’s second city, having helped turn a ragtag of competing militias into a unified force. Even then, few expected the rebels to conquer Damascus. But Mr Hamawi says they were confident that having captured Aleppo, the capital would be next. “Damascus cannot fall until Aleppo falls,” he says.Mr Hamawi is now also the military commander of Latakia, one of the most sensitive areas to fall under the Islamist group’s control. Latakia, on Syria’s north-west coast, is the heartland of Syria’s Alawite minority, the sect of which the Assad family is part and from which he drew the vast majority of senior officials. The Alawites are, for many Syrians, synonymous with the deposed dictator’s cruelty. has repeatedly said they want to end Syria’s cycle of violence. In recent days Mr Hamawi has met Alawite leaders to reassure them that they would not be targeted. “They left the meeting feeling relatively comforted,” he insists. Mr Hamawi points to the group’s control of Aleppo where, so far, at least some Christians have spoken positively of how has treated them and other minorities.The group’s leaders have announced a general amnesty for soldiers conscripted by the previous regime, but Mr Hamawi notes that there are exceptions—particularly for those who have committed war crimes or taken part in the torture of prisoners.After more than a decade of war, Syria is a seething cauldron of militias. Mr Hamawi says they must now be folded into the state: “All military units will naturally transition to the ministry of defence, forming a unified army tasked with protecting the nation on behalf of all Syrians.” But not all groups will be welcome. He insists that there will be no place in the new Syria for jihadists eager to launch attacks on the West (such as Islamic State). will deal with them with “decisiveness”, he says.Some in Syria are sceptical that will stick to its fine words. They fear that the Islamists will be tempted to monopolise power (they already dominate the new interim government), impose an austere interpretation of Sharia law and terrorise the country’s patchwork of minorities. Christian women fear they may be forced to wear the veil, or be prevented from working or going to school. Mr Hamawi insists they have no such plans. For now, remains a listed terrorist organisation in much of the Western world. How it behaves in the next months will determine whether that changes.