The insurgent coalition that seized management of Syria final month appointed its chief, Ahmed al-Shara, as president of the nation to preside over a transitional interval, Syrian state media reported on Wednesday.
A spokesman for the coalition, Col. Hassan Abdel Ghani, additionally declared that the Structure had been nullified and the legislature and armed forces shaped beneath the nation’s deposed dictator, Bashar al-Assad, had been dissolved, based on the state information company, SANA.
The declarations amounted to the nation’s first official steps towards establishing a brand new authorities after the insurgent coalition led by the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or H.T.S., swept into the capital, Damascus, final month in a lightning offensive that toppled Mr. al-Assad. Mr. al-Shara, who led that coalition, has since been serving because the nation’s de facto chief.
As president of the transitional authorities, Mr. al-Shara shall be on the helm of a once unimaginable period of transition in Syria, which had been dominated by the iron fist of the Assad household for greater than 50 years.
After practically 14 years of civil battle that left Syria severely fractured, Mr. al-Shara is making an attempt to unite many disparate insurgent factions beneath a single authorities. However it was not instantly clear whether or not there was a broad consensus amongst these teams about his appointment as president for a transitional interval or how lengthy that interval would final.
The declarations on Wednesday had been printed throughout a gathering in Damascus between H.T.S. officers and leaders of a number of the different insurgent teams that opposed Mr. al-Assad. By making the flurry of bulletins throughout that discussion board, H.T.S. leaders gave the impression to be making an attempt to exhibit that Mr. al-Shara had gained the assist of assorted insurgent teams.
Nonetheless, H.T.S. officers didn’t publish any details about which insurgent teams had been current on the assembly or the method by way of which they appointed Mr. al-Shara, leaving uncertainty over whether or not there was a unified entrance behind these steps.
Since H.T.S. seized Damascus in early December, Mr. al-Shara has laid out lofty objectives for Syria together with rebuilding the state, ridding state establishments of corruption and cronyism, and releasing the nation free from the phobia that outlined Mr. al-Assad’s authorities — significantly through the nation’s lengthy civil battle.
“What Syria wants right this moment is larger than ever earlier than,” he mentioned in remarks printed by SANA on Wednesday. “Simply as we had been decided to liberate it up to now, our obligation now’s to decide to rebuilding and advancing it.”
However many Syrians have questioned whether or not Mr. al-Shara will be capable to ship on its sweeping guarantees and reconcile his insurgent group’s militant Islamist roots with a largely secular state.
His armed Islamist group developed years in the past from an affiliate of Al Qaeda and Mr. al-Shara has had a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head for years. American officers beneath the Biden administration introduced in a go to to Damascus final month that that they had deliberate to scrap that designation.
Mr. al-Shara is now anticipated to determine a brief legislative council that can govern the nation till a brand new Structure is adopted, based on SANA. That council shall be tasked with overseeing a rustic left largely in disarray after Mr. al-Assad fled in December.
Syria’s financial system is destroyed and its forex is almost nugatory. Elements of the nation are nonetheless successfully managed by Kurdish and different militias that both oppose or don’t totally belief Mr. al-Shara’s insurgent coalition. And the coalition is overstretched, with far too few fighters to keep up safety over your complete nation.
Since seizing the capital, Mr. al-Shara and his associates have successfully transplanted leaders from their insurgent authorities within the northwestern province of Idlib — often known as the Syrian Salvation Authorities — to Damascus. Many of those officers’ credentials are extra spiritual than skilled, leaving some Syrians skeptical of each their intentions and capabilities.
Most of those officers belong to the nation’s Sunni Muslim majority, stoking issues among the many nation’s many minorities together with Shiites, Druse, Christians and others.
In December, H.T.S. officers laid out an bold timeframe for establishing a everlasting new authorities in Syria. They mentioned that inside three months, they might prepare a convention with neighborhood leaders, professors, intellectuals and others — together with members of Syria’s many non secular sects — to debate the formation of a consultant, caretaker authorities.
It was not instantly clear on Wednesday whether or not the rebels nonetheless deliberate to carry a dialogue with neighborhood leaders earlier than the March 1 deadline.
The group additionally mentioned it intends to create a committee tasked with drawing up a brand new structure within the coming years, based on H.T.S. leaders, and set up a justice system to attempt individuals accused of atrocities throughout Mr. al-Assad’s dictatorship.
Reham Mourshed contributed reporting.
