(Al Jazeera Media Network) Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has been named president for a transitional period, the Syrian state news agency (SANA) has reported.
Al-Sharaa was also authorised to form a temporary legislative council for the transitional phase that will carry out its task until a new constitution is adopted, SANA reported on Wednesday, citing military official Hassan Abdel Ghani.
Al-Sharaa is the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former opposition armed group that led the lightning offensive that toppled President Bashar al-Assad last month.
Since Assad’s removal, HTS has become the de facto ruling party and has set up an interim government largely composed of officials from the local government it previously ran in rebel-held Idlib province.
Abdel Ghani also announced the dissolution of the armed factions in the country, which he said would be absorbed into state institutions.
“All military factions are dissolved… and integrated into state institutions,” state news agency SANA quoted Abdel Ghani as saying, and also announcing “the dissolution of the defunct regime’s army” and security agencies, as well as the Baath party, which ruled Syria for decades.
The announcements emerged during a Damascus meeting of armed factions that fought alongside HTS in the offensive.
The gathering was also attended by ministers from the HTS-installed interim government appointed in December.
Al-Sharaa, whose group was once an al-Qaeda affiliate, has pledged to embark on a political transition including a national conference, an inclusive government, and eventual elections, which he has said could take up to four years to hold.
He has also called for the creation of a new unified national army and security forces, but questions loom over how the interim administration can bring together a patchwork of former rebel groups, each with their own leaders and ideology.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/29/syrias-ahmed-al-sharaa-named-president-for-transitional-period
