Syrian reopen schools, a week after upheaval

DAMASCUS: Students returned to classrooms in Syria on Sunday after the country's new rulers ordered schools reopened in a potent sign of some normalcy a week after rebels swept into the capital in the dramatic overthrow of president Bashar al Assad. The country's new de facto leader, Ahmad al Sharaa, faces a massive challenge to rebuild Syria after 13 years of civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of people. Cities were bombed to ruins, the economy was gutted by international sanctions and millions of refugees still live in camps outside Syria.

Officials said most schools were opening around the country on Sunday, which is the first day of the working week in most Arab countries. However, some parents were not sending their children to class due to uncertainty over the situation.

Pupils waited cheerfully in the courtyard of a boys' high school in Damascus on Sunday morning and applauded as the school secretary, Raed Nasser, hung the flag adopted by the new authorities.

"Everything is good. We are fully equipped. We worked two, three days in order to equip the school with the needed services for the students' safe return to school," Nasser said, adding the Jawdat al Hashemi school had not been damaged.

In one classroom, a student pasted the new flag on a wall. "I am optimistic and very happy," said student Salah al Din Diab. "I used to walk in the street scared that I would get drafted to military service. I used to be afraid when I reach a checkpoint." As Syria starts trying to rebuild, its neighbours and other foreign powers are still working out a new stance on the country, a week after the collapse of the Assad government.

Ahmad al Sharaa leads the Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), the group that swept Assad from power last week. UN Syria envoy Geir Pedersen said on Sunday he hoped for a swift end to the sanctions to help facilitate economic recovery. "We will hopefully see a quick end to sanctions so that we can see really rallying around building up Syria," Pedersen said as he arrived in Damascus to meet Syria's caretaker government and other officials. Top diplomats from the United States, Türkiye, the European Union and Arab nations met in Jordan on Saturday and agreed that a new government in Syria should respect minority rights, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. The joint statement also "affirmed the full support for Syria’s unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty," a comment that appeared aimed at Israel, which has moved into Syria beyond a previously agreed buffer zone since Assad fell.

Meanwhile, France will send a team of diplomats to Syria on Tuesday to assess the political and security situation, the foreign ministry said, without specifying whom they would meet. "A team of French diplomats will travel to Syria this Tuesday to mark France's willingness to support the Syrian people," the ministry said, adding that they would report back to the foreign minister after a series of contacts there. Since cutting ties with Assad in 2012, France has not sought to normalise ties with Syria's government and has backed a broadly secular exiled opposition and Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria. French officials have met representatives of such groups and Paris has said a political transition in Syria must be credible and inclusive, in line with a framework set out by the United Nations. — Reuters