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 fashioned below the nation’s deposed dictator, Bashar al-Assad, have 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 might 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 struggle that left Syria severely fractured, Mr. al-Shara is attempting to unite many disparate insurgent factions below 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 have been printed throughout a gathering in Damascus between H.T.S. officers and leaders of among 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 attempting to display that Mr. al-Shara had received the help of varied insurgent teams.
Nonetheless, H.T.S. officers didn’t publish any details about which insurgent teams have been current on the assembly or the method by 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 from the phobia that outlined Mr. al-Assad’s authorities — significantly in the course of the nation’s lengthy civil struggle.
“What Syria wants at the moment is bigger than ever earlier than,” he mentioned in remarks printed by SANA on Wednesday. “Simply as we have been decided to liberate it up to now, our responsibility now could be to decide to rebuilding and advancing it.”
However many Syrians have questioned whether or not Mr. al-Shara will be capable to ship on the sweeping guarantees of H.T.S. 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 below the Biden administration introduced in a go to to Damascus final month that they deliberate to scrap that designation.
Mr. al-Shara is now anticipated to ascertain a short lived legislative council that can govern the nation till a brand new Structure is adopted, based on SANA. That council might be tasked with overseeing a rustic left largely in disarray after Mr. al-Assad fled in December.
Syria’s economic 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 the 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 — referred to as the Syrian Salvation Authorities — to Damascus. A lot of these officers’ credentials are extra spiritual than skilled, leaving some Syrians skeptical of each their intentions and capabilities.
Most of these 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 formidable time-frame for establishing a everlasting new authorities in Syria. They mentioned that inside three months, they’d prepare a convention with group leaders, professors, intellectuals and others — together with members of Syria’s many spiritual 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 gathering with group leaders earlier than the March 1 deadline.
The group additionally mentioned it supposed to create a committee to attract up a brand new structure within the coming years, based on H.T.S. leaders, and set up a justice system to attempt folks accused of atrocities throughout Mr. al-Assad’s dictatorship.
Reham Mourshed contributed reporting.
