STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The rebels who deposed Syria's government now face the challenge of replacing it.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Yes, they've set up an interim government since Syria's military collapsed and President Bashar al-Assad fled. Many people celebrated Assad's defeat and then waited to see what the rebel group known as HTS would do differently. Their challenge is to govern a devastated country with many ethnic and religious groups.
INSKEEP: NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi is in Damascus. Hi there.
HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, BYLINE: Good morning.
INSKEEP: What is the rebels' vision for Syria?
AL-SHALCHI: So the leader of HTS, which is short for Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, is Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly known by his nom de guerre, Abu Mohammad al-Julani. And, at least publicly, he's been making all the right noises. This week, he said that all rebel factions that helped overthrow Bashar al-Assad will be disbanded and absorbed into the Ministry of Defense and that everyone will be subject to the rule of law. He said it's time to move on from war to civilian life. He's even stopped wearing his fatigues.
But Syria is a very diverse country, so HTS needs to find a way to reunite it. And so many cities have been destroyed in the war, so rebuilding the infrastructure is going to be something they'll need to tackle. And then HTS has roots in al-Qaida. It has told Syrians it won't turn the country into another Afghanistan, but a lot of Syrians are worried. Will they end up imposing a very stringent form of Islamic rule that'll upend their lives?
INSKEEP: OK. They're saying they're not going to do that stringent rule, but how do their public comments stack up with what they're doing so far?
AL-SHALCHI: Sure. So HTS has been using former Assad regime bureaucrats to get things up and running. They have to. These rebels just don't have the expertise needed to run a country. So students did go back to school this week. ATMs are working again, and even the first domestic flight took off from Damascus International Airport. And then I went to a protest last night, probably the first mass gathering in more than a decade. The site was unimaginable just a couple of weeks ago - people chanting for a secular state against an Islamist state, even some anti-HTS slogans. There were some HTS forces guarding the area also, but they were - pretty much left the protesters alone. I met Sana Mustafa at the protest. And she was exiled for 11 years for being a Syrian activist. This was her first time back, and she said, yes, she feels fear and is cautious. But there was a lot of fight in her voice.
SANA MUSTAFA: There's a lot of courage and strength within me as long as I am with my people. If we were able to topple, like, the 53 years old dictatorship, then I'm definitely not worried about those guys.
INSKEEP: So they inherit now this country that is very isolated in the world, all kinds of international sanctions and everything else. Do you get the impression that the new rulers are wanting to engage with the world and that the world is ready to engage with them?
AL-SHALCHI: Right. So we already know that countries like Qatar and Turkey have opened up their embassies. And then, even though the French embassy is still closed, it raised its flag there over the past week. The French foreign ministry said it was a show of solidarity with the Syrian people in this time of, quote, "transition." And senior U.S. diplomats are now in Damascus, the first official diplomatic delegation to enter the capital since it severed ties in 2012. They're meeting with HTS and want to make it clear that they're pushing for an inclusive and democratic Syria. Now, they are designated a terrorist organization, and they are desperate for the U.S. to drop that so that it can get aid - desperate aid - to rebuild the country. Also with the delegation is the U.S.'s top hostage negotiator. And he's going to be pressing for any more information about the missing American journalist, Austin Tice.
INSKEEP: We've got a couple of seconds left, so I just want to ask you. You're walking around Damascus. Are things still relatively calm day by day?
AL-SHALCHI: You know, it's not so bad. The traffic is pretty bad, but I saw yesterday a couple of traffic controllers. There's just a few of them, but they're really trying very hard. I went to the main market in the old city, and it was buzzing with people. You could see that people were just very happy, you know, just taking selfies and telling me also that this was their first time in the souk.
INSKEEP: Wow.
AL-SHALCHI: So, yeah, it's pretty cool.
INSKEEP: It's good if you can get back to worrying about traffic. NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi, thanks so much.
AL-SHALCHI: You're welcome, Steve. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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