Former rebel leader is Syria’s new interim president

A erstwhile rebel person who helped decision Syrian President Bashar al-Assad past period was named interim president of the state Wednesday.

Commanders of subject factions that toppled the erstwhile authorities named Ahmed al-Sharaa, who has served arsenic the de facto caput of authorities since the autumn of Assad, arsenic president during the enactment of a caller government.

Al-Sharra, who was erstwhile aligned with al-Qaida, is facing the daunting task of forming a impermanent legislative assembly for the transitional period, arsenic the erstwhile parliament has been dissolved.

Syria’s constitution has besides been annulled and a caller charter volition beryllium adopted. No timeline for the instauration of a caller parliament and Constitution has been announced.

Al-Sharra is the person of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham oregon HTS, a U.S.-designated violent group, that spearheaded the run successful December to instrumentality power of Damascus. Assad fled to Russia, ending much than fractional a period of oppressive regularisation by Bashar and his precocious father, Hafez.

At 1 point, the U.S. had placed a $10 cardinal bounty connected al-Sharra, the caller interim president, according to the Associated Press. The bounty was removed precocious aft a U.S. delegation met him successful Damascus.

Barbara Leaf, a apical U.S. diplomat successful the Middle East described al-Sharra arsenic “pragmatic,” aft gathering him, AP reported.

In a video released aft the gathering with the Syrian factions, al-Sharaa said 1 of his apical priorities successful the caller presumption volition beryllium filling “in a morganatic and ineligible way” Syria’s vacuum successful government. Another priority, helium said, volition beryllium “maintaining civilian bid by seeking transitional justness and preventing revenge attacks” owed to Assad’s reign.

Syrians took to the streets of Damascus, the capital, to observe the announcement of al-Sharaa's appointment. One of those celebrating was Abdallah al-Sweid who told AP that the caller president “is idiosyncratic who is intelligent and has a bully knowing and helium was the person of the conflict that freed Syria.” Al-Sharra “is idiosyncratic who deserves to beryllium president,” al-Sweid said.

However, Fawaz Gerges, prof of planetary relations astatine the London School of Economics sees al-Sharra's assignment differently. He told Reuters that the declaration of the interim president’s assignment “formalized” al-Sharra's “status arsenic the strongman ruler.” Gerges said, “My instrumentality is that HTS and Sharaa mean to consolidate single-party Islamist rule.”