Transitional justice is considered an important option following changes in authoritarian states, as is the case in Syria after the fall of the Al-Assad authority, due to the intensity of the armed conflict and the suffering inflicted on Syrians as a result of the barbaric actions of the combatants, especially the forces and militia of the Syrian regime and its Iranian and Russian allies. This necessitates the application of possible transitional justice mechanisms to achieve comprehensive national reconciliation, punish criminals, and compensate victims. Overcoming the phase of tyranny and restoring civil peace and social unity requires "preparing souls by redressing grievances, restoring rights to their owners, compensating the affected, revealing the fate of the missing, uncovering the truths of what happened, determining responsibilities, and holding accountable those who committed violations and crimes" (1).

Most countries that sought national reconciliation after revolutions gained security, justice, and development. Those that slipped into violence, extremism, and extermination paid heavy prices and remained shackled by fear, terrorism, and backwardness. However, in most cases, national reconciliation was associated with transitional rather than retributive justice.

In Syria, there is no doubt that the process of democratic transition is fraught with numerous difficulties: the complex structure of Syria within its regional environment and the sectarian and ethnic diversity within society. Although there are general international principles for transitional justice, forms of this justice vary according to Syria's specificities and the nature of the conflicts and problems that have existed for half a century, with the aim of reaching the process of building a new political system that accommodates all political parties and social components.

Many societies have gone through what Syria has experienced, especially in Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Arab countries, yet they managed to open a new page based on truth, accountability, and justice, and then reconciliation, through transitional justice, as it serves as "a mechanism to overcome the constraints of the past" and is crucial in "paving the way toward democracy at a lower cost," and its ability to "fortify societies against grave human rights violations and the harsh experiences of tyranny" (2). The return to the past seeks "to bring forth its pains and tragedies before public opinion with honesty and transparency, in order to strive to overcome them in the future" (3).

The success of the democratic transition process and the establishment of a state of law and order that achieves peace and coexistence among all social components, and helps to overcome vengeance, exclusion, and hostility, is difficult without the option of achieving comprehensive national reconciliation, under the banner of "restorative justice." This option, based on political pragmatism, was predicated on abandoning punitive justice or deferring it for those accused from the authoritarian regime, compensating it with alternative measures, as seen in the Moroccan model, which involved "knowing the truth of the crimes, documenting them, presenting them to the public, offering various forms of material and symbolic reparations to the victims, preserving their painful memories, committing to not repeating violations, and entrenching democracy" (4).

Successful experiences of democratic transition in Europe, Latin America, and South Africa, along with the experiences of Morocco and Tunisia, as well as insights from annual reports of the International Center for Transitional Justice (5), will assist us in approaching the foundations of transitional justice in Syria after the change.

**Major Human Rights Violations During the Years of the Syrian Revolution**

Human rights violations in Syria are numerous and varied, extending over a long period of more than five decades. The most notable among them are the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Syrian regime’s forces and their militia during the years of the Syrian revolution (2011 – 2024). This makes the issue of exploring the best ways to deal with the legacy of the past not just necessary but urgent, especially since it has become a topic for discussion today, whether by the victims and their families, civil society components, or political parties and forces.

The Syrian regime resorted to excessive force to suppress the peaceful Syrian revolution, and the army and security forces committed severe human rights violations that reached the level of crimes against humanity. The situation worsened due to increased violence and its escalation into an armed conflict, transforming since February 2012 into a proxy war for conflicting local, regional, and international powers.

There is hardly a household in Syria that has not suffered material and moral harm in one way or another, and there is hardly a family in Syria, whether loyal to the regime or opposed to it, that has not experienced grief; some have lost a son or daughter or a father or mother, others have had a family member injured or disabled, and many families have had a member arrested or kidnapped, with no knowledge of their fate. Many families are still searching for the bodies of their loved ones who were killed in battles or tortured in detention centers 

Dr. Abdullah Turkmani