Former opposition leader and de facto leader of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has been appointed president for a transitional period, according to Syrian state media, nearly two months after Bashar al-Assad was ousted.
“It’s a monumental day”, said Al Jazeera’s correspondent Osama Bin Javaid, reporting from Damascus. Because of uncertainty regarding how this new administration would look, it provides more clarity for the country’s future.
What was announced today?
Al-Sharaa has been elected president until elections are over, according to commander Hassan Abdel Ghani, according to the Syrian state news agency SANA on Wednesday.
A temporary legislative council, which will carry out its duties until a new constitution is approved, was also authorized by Al-Sharaa.
All military factions in Syria, including Syria’s army and security forces, as well as al-Sharaa’s own Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), were dissolved, as was the country’s constitution, and al-Assad’s Baath party – which had ruled the country for more than 60 years prior to al-Assad’s overthrow.
The revelations were made at a meeting in Damascus that commanders of armed organizations who participated in al-Sharaa’s HTS on December 8 held.
Al-Sharaa is trying to calm them into thinking that they will be a part of a new Syria, Bin Javaid said.
When will Syria hold elections?
Given that there is currently no set date for Syria’s election process, we are unsure of how long the transition will last.
Al-Sharaa has previously stated that it could take up to four years to organize an election in the war-torn nation.
Al-Sharaa told the Saudi-speaking broadcaster Al Arabiya in December that drafting a new constitution could take up to three years.
He claimed that because a new census needs to be conducted to determine the number of eligible voters in the nation, elections would likely be held after four years.
He claimed that conducting a thorough population census is necessary for any meaningful elections.
Who is Ahmed al-Sharaa?
Al-Sharaa, who had previously been known as Abu Mohammed al-Julani, was in charge of the HTS, which rose to prominence as Syria’s most powerful armed opposition force, and led the offensive that led to al-Assad’s ouster in December.
HTS used to be a part of al-Qaeda, but it has since tried to sway its own behavior. Instead, al-Sharaa has positioned himself and his organization as trustworthy protectors of a Syria that was liberated from al-Assad, who brutally suppressed a popular uprising during the Arab Spring in 2011 and supported.
HTS has established an interim government largely made up of members of the local government it once led in rebel-held Idlib province since al-Assad’s removal, making it the de facto ruling party.
Al-Sharaa has met with international leaders, diplomats, UN officials, and Karim Khan, a prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, in recent weeks.
Is Syria still under foreign sanctions?
At a meeting in Brussels this week, the European Union’s foreign ministers discussed the issue.
According to France’s foreign minister, some EU sanctions against Syria will be lifted as part of a wider EU initiative to stabilize Damascus.
The United States and the EU introduced a series of , crippling sanctions , on Syria in 2011, denying Damascus access to capital markets and trade revenues. Western , restrictions in effect , cut off Syria’s formal economy from the rest of the world.
Foreign leaders have been informed by Al-Sharaa and his government that the lifting of sanctions is crucial to Syria’s future.
“These sanctions are having an impact on everyone inside Syria, on all aspects of Syrian society”, Bin Javaid said. “That will make or break how the economy functions, how Syria is going to be able to move forward”.
The Arab Socialist Baath Party was what?
All remnants of the al-Assad regime will be dissolved, including parliament, Syria’s old constitution, and al-Assad’s Arab Socialist Baath Party.
The Baath party, whose stated aim was to unify Arab states in one nation, was founded by two Syrian Arab nationalists, Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar, and adopted its first constitution in 1947. At one point the party ruled two Arab countries, Iraq and Syria.
In Syria, the Baath party became inextricably associated with the al-Assad family, which took power in 1970. For decades, the family used the party and its pan-Arab ideology to control the country. Members of the minority Alawite sect of the family served in numerous senior military positions, and party membership provided a covert nationalist and sectarian roles.
Source: Aljazeera
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