By Timour Azhari
(Reuters) -Foreign fighters and others who joined Syria’s civil war from abroad have petitioned the new Islamist-led government for citizenship, arguing they have earned it after sweeping to power with rebels who ousted former leader Bashar al-Assad.
The fate of foreign fighters has loomed large since Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took power, with few states willing to take back people they often view as extremists and some Syrians wary of their presence.
Many of the fighters and their families, and others including aid workers and journalists who joined the rebels, have no valid documentation. Some have been stripped of their original citizenship, and fear lengthy prison sentences or even death in their countries of origin.
But rewarding them with Syrian citizenship could alienate Syrians and foreign states whose support the new government is seeking as it tries to unify and rebuild a country devastated by war and shaken by sectarian killings.
A petition submitted to Syria’s interior ministry on Thursday, seen by Reuters, argues the foreigners should be granted citizenship so they can settle down, own land and even travel.
“We shared bread, we shared sorrow, and we shared in the hope for a free and just future for Syria … Yet for us, the muhajireen (emigrants), our status remains uncertain,” reads the letter.
“We respectfully request that the Syrian leadership, with wisdom, foresight and brotherhood, grant us full Syrian citizenship and the right to hold a Syrian passport.”
The letter was submitted by Bilal Abdul Kareem, a U.S. stand-up comedian-turned-war journalist residing in Syria since 2012 and a prominent voice among Islamist foreigners there.
He told Reuters by phone that the petition aimed to benefit thousands of foreigners from more than a dozen states. That includes Egyptians and Saudis, Lebanese, Pakistanis, Indonesians and Maldivians, as well as Britons, Germans, French, Americans, Canadians and people of Chechen and Uyghur ethnicity.
Reuters could not determine how many people backed the petition for citizenship, but three foreigners in Syria – a Briton, an Uyghur and a French citizen – confirmed they did.
A spokesperson for Syria’s interior ministry said the Syrian presidency would be the one to decide on the issue of citizenship for foreigners. A presidency media official did not respond to a request for comment.
In the weeks after taking power, Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly HTS leader, said foreign fighters and their families might be granted Syrian citizenship, but there have been no public reports of such a move.
Some Syrians are concerned, seeing the foreigner fighters as more loyal to a pan-Islamic project than to Syria, and fearing their perceived extremism.
In the months since Assad fell, foreign fighters have been accused of participating in violence targeting members of Alawite and Druze minority religious groups.
A Reuters investigation into violence in Syria’s coastal regions in March in which more than 1,000 Alawites were killed found that Uyghurs, Uzbeks, Chechens, and some Arab fighters participated in the killings, though the majority were carried out by Syrian factions.
‘JUST OUTCOME’
Thousands of Sunni Muslim foreigners flocked to Syria after popular protests in 2011 spiralled into an increasingly sectarian civil war that also drew in Shi’ite Muslim militias from across the region.
They joined various groups, some clashing with HTS, others building a reputation as fierce and loyal fighters whom the group’s leadership even relied on for their personal security.
Many married and started families.
The Uyghur fighter, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the topic, said his goal had shifted to making a life in the new Syria.
“I have a 4-year-old boy who should join school soon, and I have to think about his future away from the battlefields of jihad,” the fighter said.
Tauqir Sharif, a British aid worker who has lived in Syria since 2012, told Reuters in May that foreigners who contributed to society deserved nationality.
“The muhajireen that came were not killers, they were life savers that came here to stop the oppression,” said Sharif, who was stripped of his UK citizenship in 2017 for alleged links to an al Qaeda-aligned group, allegations he denies.
After taking power in December, Syria appointed foreign fighters to senior military posts. It received a U.S. green light to include several thousand in the army, and has handed foreigners other roles.
Supporters of giving foreign fighters citizenship argue it would make them accountable under the law.
“This would be the just outcome of the sacrifices these young brothers and sisters made to free the country from the clutches of Bashar al-Assad,” said Abdul Kareem, who has also been critical of HTS and the new Syrian leadership.
Orwa Ajjoub, a Syrian analyst who has studied Syrian jihadist groups since 2016, said the issue “should be addressed through dialogue with a broad spectrum of Syrian society, which still holds diverse opinions on the matter”.
(Reporting by Timour Azhari; additional reporting by Feras Dalatey and Maya Gebeily; Editing by Aidan Lewis)
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