Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa was named president of the country during its transitional period, Syrian state news reported on Wednesday, citing military commander Hassan Abdel Ghani.
Sharaa is now authorised to form a temporary legislative council for the transitional phase, which will carry out its task until a new constitution is adopted, Abdel Ghani confirmed, with the 2012 constitution dissolved.
Abdel Ghani also confirmed that Sharaa will carry out the duties of the presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic and represent it in international forums.
The announcements emerged during a meeting in Damascus attended by commanders of armed groups that fought alongside Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in their lightning victory last year that saw the collapse of the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
Abdel Ghani also said that all of these armed groups, as well as the former government’s army and security agencies, would be dissolved.
“All military factions are dissolved… and integrated into state institutions,” SANA quoted Abdel Ghani as saying, also announcing “the dissolution of the defunct regime’s army” and security agencies, as well as Assad’s Baath Party, which ruled Syria for decades.
Abdel Ghani announced that 8 December, the day Assad fled Syria for Russia, will be declared an annual national day to commemorate the victory of the rebellion.
Additionally, the National Progressive Front, which was a coalition of Assad-friendly parties that functioned as a veneer for the Baath Party, is to be dissolved, with a ban on their re-formation under any other name, and the transfer of their assets to the new Syrian state.
Though al-Sharaa was already Syria’s de facto leader, the move to make him interim president means he now has the legitimacy and responsibilities of a head of state, but only for the duration of the transitional phase.
In December of last year, al-Sharaa said holding new elections in Syria could take up to four years, with the former rebel leader emphasising that work must be done to improve Syria’s failing public services and its shattered economy.
