Syria’s new authorities announced Wednesday that Ahmed al-Sharaa, who took the helm after Bashar al-Assad’s ouster last month, has been appointed interim president and tasked with forming a transitional legislature, state media reported.
A rebel alliance led by Sharaa’s Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ousted Assad on December 8 after a lightning offensive, ending five decades of his family’s iron-fisted rule, with a transitional government previously installed to steer the country until March 1.
Sharaa was appointed “as the country’s president in the transitional phase”, state news agency SANA reported, quoting military official Hassan Abdel Ghani, without specifying a timeframe, adding that he would also represent the country “in international forums”.
Sharaa was tasked with forming “a temporary legislative council… until a permanent constitution for the country is decided”, SANA said, adding that the Assad-era parliament had been dissolved and the 2012 constitution suspended.
The announcements came during a conference on “the victory of the Syrian revolution” that was also attended by Sharaa, Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and the heads of armed factions.
Abdel Ghani also announced the dissolution of all armed groups involved in Assad’s ouster, as well as the former government’s army and security agencies.
“All military factions and political and civil revolutionary bodies are dissolved and integrated into state institutions”, SANA reported Abdel Ghani as saying.
He also announced “the dissolution of the defunct regime’s army”, security agencies “and all the militias it established, and the formation of a new security apparatus that preserves citizens’ security” and the “reconstruction of the Syrian army”.
The Syrian army has effectively collapsed, along with the other instruments of Assad’s rule.
The Baath party which ruled Syria for decades was also dissolved, SANA reported.
In a speech at the event, Sharaa set out Syria’s priorities as “filling the power vacuum, preserving civil peace, rebuilding state institutions and working to construct a development-oriented economy”, SANA said.
“The mission of the victorious is heavy, and their responsibility is immense,” Sharaa added.
Last month, he said it could take four years before elections could be held, and up to three years to rewrite the country’s constitution.
Authorities had previously spoken of a national dialogue conference that would bring together Syrians of all political stripes, but SANA made no mention of any such conference on Wednesday.
Civil war broke out in Syria after Assad suppressed peaceful anti-government protests in 2011. The conflict has killed more than 500,000 people and displaced millions more.
HTS, rooted in Syria’s Al-Qaeda branch, is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by many governments including the United States, though it has recently sought to moderate its rhetoric and vowed to protect Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities.
Since Assad’s ouster, a succession of Western diplomats have visited Syria to call for an inclusive transition.
