Rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa made transitional president of Syria
Rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa made transitional president of Syria
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Appointment of former leader of group that led operation to topple Assad comes amid other political changes. The former leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist rebel group which led the military operation to topple the former president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, last month, has been appointed president of Syria for a “transitional period”.
The appointment of Ahmad al-Sharaa, who has been acting as the de-facto leader of the country since early December, came after a meeting of rebel faction leaders on Wednesday and was announced by a military spokesperson. The spokesperson announced a series of other changes, including the dissolution of Syria’s parliament, the formation of an appointed legislative council, and the cancellation of the country’s 2012 constitution. Syria’s military and security agencies were also dissolved, to be replaced by new security institutions and army.
In addition, all armed factions in Syria are to be disbanded and absorbed into the new national army. On its face, the order to dissolve armed factions should include HTS, though it did not name the group, which is the de-facto authority in the country.
Sharaa said that the country’s priorities were “filling the power vacuum, preserving civil peace, building state institutions”. The transitional government is supposed to hand over power to a new government in March, but it is unclear how the transition will be managed. In an interview with Al Arabiya last month, Sharaa said holding elections could take up to four years, and rewriting the country’s constitution could take three.
