Leader of rebels who toppled Syria’s Assad is named country’s interim president
- Share via
DAMASCUS, Syria — The Syrian factions that toppled President Bashar Assad last month named an Islamist former rebel leader as the country‘s interim president on Wednesday in a push to project a united front as they face the monumental task of rebuilding Syria after nearly 14 years of civil war.
The former insurgents also threw out Syria’s constitution, adopted under Assad, saying a new charter would be drafted soon.
The appointment of Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was once aligned with Al Qaeda, as Syria’s president “in the transitional phase,” came after a meeting of the former insurgent factions in Damascus, the Syrian capital.
The announcement was made by the spokesperson for Syria’s new, de facto government’s military operations sector, Col. Hassan Abdul Ghani, the state-run SANA news agency said.
Once Syria’s most influential minority, Alawites struggle to move on from their association with a hated dictator.
Al-Sharaa had been expected to appear in a televised speech following the meeting, but did not immediately do so, and it remained unclear if he would. The exact mechanism under which the factions selected him as interim president was also not clear.
Formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, al-Sharaa is the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which led the lightning offensive that toppled Assad in early December. The group was once affiliated with Al Qaeda but has since denounced its former ties.
In recent years, al-Sharaa has sought to cast himself as a champion of pluralism and tolerance and promised to protect the rights of women and religious minorities.
The United States had previously placed a $10-million bounty on al-Sharaa but canceled it last month after a U.S. delegation visited Damascus and met with him. The top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, Barbara Leaf, said after the meeting that al-Sharaa came across as “pragmatic.”
Qatar was the first country to react to al-Sharaa’s appointment, which had been expected, saying it welcomed decisions aimed at “enhancing consensus and unity among all Syrian parties.” The statement added that this should help pave the way for a “peaceful transfer of power through a comprehensive political process.”
The rebels who toppled Syrian dictator Bashar Assad trace their roots to Al Qaeda and Islamic State. They say they’ve changed.
Western nations, although they have moved to restore ties with Damascus after Assad was overthrown, are still somewhat circumspect about Syria’s new Islamist rulers.
Abdul Ghani, the spokesman, also announced Wednesday that Syria’s constitution — adopted in 2012, under Assad’s rule — was annulled. He said al-Sharaa would be authorized to form a temporary legislative council until a new constitution is drafted.
All the armed factions in the country would be disbanded, Abdul Ghani said, and would be absorbed into state institutions.
Since Assad’s fall, 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.
The interim authorities have promised they would launch an inclusive process to set up a new government and constitution, including convening a national dialogue conference and invite Syria’s different communities, though no date has been set.
Ousted Syrian leader Bashar Assad said Russia’s military evacuated him from their base in western Syria after it came under attack.
As the former Syrian army collapsed with Assad’s downfall, al-Sharaa has called for creation of a new unified national army and security forces, but questions have loomed over how the interim administration can bring together a patchwork of former rebel groups, each with their own leaders and ideology.
Even knottier is the question of the U.S.-backed Kurdish groups that carved out an autonomous enclave early in Syria’s civil war, never fully siding with the Assad government or with the rebels seeking to topple him. Since Assad’s fall, there has been an escalation in clashes between the Kurdish forces and Turkish-backed armed groups allied with HTS in northern Syria.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces were not present at Wednesday’s meeting of the country’s armed factions and there was no immediate comment from the group.
At the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, this month, Asaad al-Shibani, Syria’s new foreign minister and HTS official, said the country needs the international community’s help as it begins rebuilding after the brutal civil war.
Sewell and Albam write for the Associated Press. Sewell reported from Beirut.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
