International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan visited Damascus, Syria, this weekend to meet with jihadi warlord Ahmed al-Sharaa, the de factor leader of the country after the fall of the Assad family regime.
In a message the ICC published on social media, the world court said British lawyer Khan expressed gratitude to “Syrian authorities” for “open & constructive discussions” regarding holding war criminals and others accountable following the resolution of the Syrian Civil War.
Syria endured over a decade of civil war under deposed dictator Bashar Assad that evolved into a melee featuring both fighting between the Assad regime and several opposition militias and a host of terrorist, separatist, and state actors fighting each other in Syria for a variety of reasons. The context of the Syrian civil war allowed the Islamic State to carve out land for a “caliphate” in the northern region of Raqqa that was ultimately eradicated through collaboration between the United States and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition of Kurdish-led militias that largely avoided fighting for or against Assad.
The war ended in early December when Assad fled the country for Russia. Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly known by his jihadist name Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, became the de facto leader of the country as the head of the al-Qaeda offshoot militia Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). HTS launched a surprise assault of Assad forces in late November in Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city, that sent Assad forces fleeing. The striking success of HTS in Aleppo led to successive captures of territory from Idlib to Damascus; the militia’s arrival to the capital prompted Assad to flee.
Human rights groups and the United Nations have documented widespread evidence that Assad and several other actors in the civil war committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other atrocities. The ICC is an international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for three types of crimes: genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Khan’s visit to Syria was reportedly intended to begin the process of formal investigations potentially leading to ICC convictions.
Reuters reported that Sharaa’s nascent regime invited Khan to discuss war crimes. Khan proclaimed himself pleased with conversations with Sharaa on the possibility of international justice for Syrian civil war crimes.
“Some of the remarks coming out of Syria by the transitional government seem to have indicated an openness to justice and accountability for crimes that may have taken place,” Reuters quoted Khan as saying. “I think we’re happy to take part in the conversation to tell them the options that they have.”
The visit was reportedly a “surprise” stop for Khan and the ICC did not offer any specific steps forward for its participation in Syrian justice. Syria is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, which established the ICC, so it does not have to accept ICC jurisdiction.
The ICC statements and quotes from Khan did not indicate that he discussed in any depth with Sharaa the crimes that HTS terrorists may have committed themselves during the decade-plus of its existence, or what the new Syrian regime would do to defend the human rights of its beleaguered civilians. HTS is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization that sprang out of al-Qaeda. American authorities were offering a $10 million bounty for Sharaa himself, as the leader of the jihadists, until former President Joe Biden rescinded the reward in December.
Sharaa, now wearing Western-style suits instead of military fatigues, has offered vague public statements asserting that he would lead an “inclusive” government and respect the existence of religious and ethnic minorities in the country, but also affirmed that the government replacing Assad would be Islamist.
“We take pride in our culture, our religion and our Islam. Being part of the Islamic environment does not mean the exclusion of other sects. On the contrary, it is our duty to protect them,” Sharaa said in an interview in December.
Prior to the HTS takeover of the country, Sharaa told CNN that “people who fear Islamic governance either have seen incorrect implementations of it or do not understand it properly.”
Religious minorities, particularly Christians and Alawite Muslims, have expressed alarm at HTS becoming the de facto government of their country. Religious persecution experts have warned that the jihadists have a history of persecuting non-Sunni Muslims and Christians are not safe under HTS.
“HTS, with its al-Qaeda/ISIS roots, has historically been very violent towards Christian minorities, which should mean increased persecution,” Jeff King, the president of International Christian Concern (ICC), told Breitbart News this month. “The fall of Aleppo to these groups [Christians] will signify the beginning of the end for one of the last significant Christian strongholds in the region if unchecked.”
Critics noted Khan’s apparent lack of interest in minority persecutions in contrast to his energetic attempts to prosecute the government of Israel for defending itself following the terrorist atrocities by the jihadists of Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Khan requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister at the time, Yoav Gallant, claiming they were engaging in crimes against humanity in the Hamas-controlled Gaza region. The ICC issued the warrants in November.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar condemned Khan for meeting with the HTS leadership following his visit.
“He [Khan] already ran to Damascus to meet with al-Julani, head of HTS (designated as a terrorist organization by the UN Security Council), and former al-Qaeda operative,” Saar wrote in a social media message. “So much for ‘international legal institutions’. Show me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are.”
“Karim Kahn didn’t find the time to come to Israel, a democratic country governed by the rule of law and with an independent judiciary, before issuing arrest warrants against its democratically elected leaders,” Saar observed.
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