Syria’s interim president, the militant Islamist Ahmed al-Sharaa, has named Hind Kabawat, a Catholic woman, to the seven-member committee that will draft a new constitution for the nation.
Newsroom (14/02/2025 10:48, Gaudium Press) Her name is Hind Aboud Kabawat, she teaches at American universities and is the only Christian in the seven-member committee (five men and two women) tasked with preparing the announced “National Conference of Syria”, which will begin the process of drafting a new constitution and defining the new institutional structure of the Middle Eastern country.
The seven members of the committee were chosen by the self-proclaimed “interim” president Ahmad al-Sharaa. Under the name Abu Muhammad Jolani, al-Sharaa led for years “Hayat Tahrir al Sham”, an Islamist group that played a leading role in the group of armed militias that joined forces to fight the Assad regime, which collapsed in December last year.
By including Hind Kabawat in the committee that is supposed to help pave the political path to a constitution and elections, the current rulers in Syria want to send a signal that concretely confirms their declared open and inclusive attitude towards the local Christian communities. And a look at the professional profile of the Syrian-Canadian professor reveals details about the criteria of the geopolitical strategies of the new Syrian leadership. Hind Kabawat, a Catholic, has two children – a boy and a girl – and comes from an interdenominational Christian family: a Greek Catholic father, a Greek Orthodox mother. Her CV is full of outstanding references, which also attest to her constant commitment to initiatives and institutions supporting interreligious dialogue and strategies for mediation, pacification and the promotion of women in Syria, which has been torn apart by conflict and atrocities in recent years.
Hind Kabawat studied economics at the University of Damascus and obtained a second degree in law from the Arab University of Beirut. She continued her academic training with a master’s degree in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University (near Boston, Massachusetts) and certificates in conflict resolution and negotiation strategies from the universities of Toronto and Harvard.
The Syrian-born professor heads the Interfaith Peacebuilding program at the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution (CRDC) at George Mason University (Virginia) and was deputy head of the Geneva office of the Syrian Negotiations Commission, formerly known as the High Negotiations Committee (HNC).
In her role at the then HNC, Hind Kabawat had already participated in the eight rounds of Geneva peace talks on Syria in 2017. Her skills were therefore known in networks and bodies outside Syria that dealt with the situation in Syria. Hind Kabawat was also involved in the creation of the “Tastakel” center, an educational center for women dedicated to promoting non-violence and dialogue to resolve conflict situations.
The spokesman for the preparatory committee for the conference on national dialogue, Hassan Dagheim, said in an interview with the official Syrian news agency “SANA” that the committee would work to ensure that all social, ethnic, cultural and religious realities in Syria are represented and that the diversity of the various Syrian provinces is respected. At the same time, with regard to the appointment of Hind Kabawat, local analysts are wondering what significance the contribution of a Christian woman has in a committee in which the radical Islamist component seems to be predominant.
As in Aleppo, many local councils of professional associations (doctors, lawyers, etc.) have recently been reorganized, and the new organizational charts are predominantly made up of people linked to “Hayat Tahrir al Sham” and other influential groups in post-Assad Syria.
As early as the end of August 2022, the Islamist militiamen of “Hayat Tahrir al Sham” had again allowed the celebration of a mass in a church that had been closed for ten years in the area of Idlib province under their control. The leader of the jihadist group al-Jolani himself had “guaranteed” the celebration of the mass in the Armenian Apostolic Church “Saint Anne” near the village of Yacoubia in the northwest of Idlib. Dozens of Christians of various denominations took part in the liturgical celebration in the holy site, which previously served as a refuge for refugees. Pictures of the celebration were distributed by the Islamist militias themselves. In the previous weeks, Muhammad al-Jolani had told representatives of the Christian communities who were still in then villages of Qunaya, Yacoubia and al-Jadida, announced his intention to “protect” their liturgical celebrations and to guarantee them the gradual return of the land previously confiscated from the Christian owners. Even then, al-Jolani’s move had provoked mixed reactions. Other Salafist groups such as “Hurras al Din” had accused al-Jolani of making the province of Idlib “less Muslim”. Other analysts saw the initiative as part of a strategy by this Islamist group to make its declared “moderate turn” known internationally. Militiamen of the “Hayat Tahrir al Sham” emphasized the need to “open a new chapter” and reaffirm that Islam does not prohibit non-Muslims – including Christians – from practicing their faith freely.
In 2013, al-Jolani himself was still classified as a “global terrorist” by the US State Department. In 2022, Aaron Y. Zelin wrote in an analysis of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, published at the time on the website of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, that al-Jolani was “no longer just the leader of a terrorist group or a rebel group” but should be seen as a representative of a change that also includes a change in attitude towards the United States. Zelin also reported that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham allegedly used secret channels to convey the following message to US officials: “We want to be your friends. We are not terrorists. We are only fighting against Assad. We are not a threat to you”.
– Raju Hasmukh with files from Agenzia Fides
