International community interested in existence of rebuilt, united and strong Syria - Braze

RIGA - After the fall of dictator Bashar al Assad's regime, the international community is interested in the existence of a united, strong and terrorism-free Syria, Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze (New Unity) said Thursday in an interview on Latvian Television.

The minister said that if Syria ends up a poor conflict-ridden country, the rest of the world will not be economically interested in cooperation with it and the threat of migration will increase as well. "At the moment, the migration flow is predominantly back to Syria. There are 3.5 million Syrians in Turkey. They want to return to their country, they want to live there and run the country," said Braze.

The minister noted that it is the duty of the international community to support Syria to help ir rebuild, and the European Union (EU) has already sent a clear signal that it will get involved in this process. The US, Turkey and other countries in the region also have substantial interests in rebuilding Syria, said Braze.

She added that after the fall of the Assad regime, Syria needs to ensure a peaceful transition to an inclusive power, so that its many minorities and religious groups could find their place in the new governance system. It is also highly important to ensure that Syria remains a whole country and is not split into "separate small sections". It is also important that the various groups in Syria do not pose a terrorist threat to other countries, the minister said, pointing to some militant groups' past links to ISIS.

"Syria will have support in this process to build a governed, inclusive state power and administration that also creates opportunities for economic development, because at the end of the day, if it is a poor, conflict-torn country, it will be very difficult to have any hope of economic development there," Braze concluded in the interview with LTV.

As reported, on December 8, Syrian rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham overthrew the Assad regime. Mohammed al-Bashir, who previously led the rebel Salvation Government in northwest Syria, was appointed head of the transitional government until March 1.

The West, including EU countries, is looking with concern at the new leadership in Damascus, given that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has its roots in the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is considered by several countries to be a terrorist organization.