Syria: Ahmed al-Sharaa named president for transitional period

Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has been named president for the “transitional period”, state media report, seven weeks after he led the rebel offensive that overthrew Bashar al-Assad.

Rebel military commander Hassan Abdul Ghani also announced the cancellation of Syria’s 2012 constitution and the dissolution of the former regime’s parliament, army and security agencies, according to the Sana news agency.

As president, Sharaa would form an interim legislative council to help govern until a new constitution was approved, he said.

All rebel groups which opposed Assad in the 13-year civil war would be dissolved and integrated into state institutions, he added.

The announcements came during a meeting in Damascus on Wednesday attended by the commanders of factions who fought alongside the rebel alliance led by Sharaa’s Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

HTS – a former al-Qaeda affiliate that is still designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN, the US, the EU and the UK – previously dominated the last rebel stronghold in north-western Syria.

In 2011, Assad brutally crushed a peaceful pro-democracy uprising, sparking a civil war in which more than half a million people were killed and 12 million others forced to flee their homes.

On 8 December, as the rebels entered Damascus after routing the army and sweeping down from the north in the space of only 12 days, Assad resigned the presidency and fled to Russia.

An interim government led by Mohammed al-Bashir, the former head of the rebel administration in the north-west, has been tasked with running the country until March.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Syrian government called on Russia to address “past mistakes” by paying war reparations, during the first visit by a top Kremlin delegation since the fall of Assad, its staunch ally.

Sharaa and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov discussed “rebuilding trust with the Syrian people through concrete measures such as compensation, reconstruction and recovery”, Sana reported.

The Russian foreign ministry said its delegation expressed “unwavering support” for Syria’s unity and readiness to assist its recovery from the civil war.

The Russian military carried out tens of thousands of air strikes on rebel-held areas after intervening in the conflict in support of Assad in 2015. A UK-based monitoring group says more than 21,000 people, including 8,700 civilians, were killed by those strikes and other Russian operations.

Since the fall of the Assad regime, Russia has been withdrawing troops and weapons from its two bases on Syria’s Mediterranean coast – Hmeimim airbase near Latakia and the naval base in Tartous

Recent satellite photos analysed by BBC Verify showed that two Russian warships were docked at Tartous, which experts said suggested an evacuation of the facility had begun.

However, Russia is believed to be seeking to retain both bases, which give it a strategically important foothold in the eastern Mediterranean.

Following the Russian delegation’s visit to Damascus, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow: “That was an important trip, and the contacts were important, too, because it is necessary to establish and maintain a constant dialogue with Syria.”

When asked about reports that the Syrian government had requested Assad’s extradition and war reparations in return, he replied: “I leave this without any comments. We will continue further dialogue with the Syrian authorities.”

In an interview with Al Arabiya TV late last month, Sharaa noted the “deep strategic interests between Russia and Syria” and said he did not want Russia to leave “in a way that undermines its relationship with our country”.

“All of Syria’s arms are of Russian origin, and many power plants are managed by Russian experts,” he added.