President Ahmed al-Sharaa's efforts to build the state in Syria are remarkable, especially when compared to the immature actions of those who share power with him and manage the state. These actions have already caused numerous disasters across various economic and service sectors, not to mention the occasional security incidents that have significantly destabilized the internal situation in Syria, particularly regarding civil peace.
On more than one occasion, we have witnessed President al-Sharaa act with commendable wisdom and shrewdness. Had someone else been in his position, they might have been blinded by their power and authority and acted with utter recklessness. Most of us are familiar with examples of leaders who mercilessly killed and tortured their opponents and critics.
After a year and a half, we have ample evidence of this man's adherence to the saying: "The larger your tent, the larger your heart." But what impressed me most, at least, was his handling of the crisis with the SDF, and then how he absorbed the criticisms of businessmen Ayman al-Asfari and Ghassan Abboud, especially the latter, whose provocative attacks on the government and the state in his video recordings were quite inflammatory. Then, days later, we learned that al-Sharaa had contacted him and met with him in Damascus, thus containing a potential conflagration before it could escalate.
This behavior indicates that there is a faction within the government trying to push the country into direct confrontation with everything, fueled by the fervor of a public that has finally felt victorious and wants to impose its will on everyone. Meanwhile, there is another faction, seemingly represented and led by President al-Sharaa, that prefers building the state and absorbing public anger to confrontation and further destabilization.
This perhaps explains many of the security incidents that have caused a rift within Syrian society, most notably the events in Suwaida and those that occurred on the Syrian coast. However, the danger lies not in what has happened in the past, but rather in the fact that this confrontational current still exists within many state institutions and does not hesitate to stir up trouble for the most trivial reasons, as exemplified by the governor of Damascus, for instance, and other ministers and directors-general.
We hope that President al-Sharaa's conduct and tolerance will serve as a model for other officials, both in their foreign and domestic policies, because the country needs a mind to build it. Power and authority are meant to protect it and its people, not to terrorize them, as the fugitive criminal Bashar al-Assad did.
Fouad Abdul Aziz - Zaman al-Wasl
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