Change of power

Al-Sharaa is now Syria’s interim president

Syria's new interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa(Bild: AP/Mosa‘ab Elshamy)

Following the change of power in Syria, de facto ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa has now been appointed interim president. He is to take over the duties of the head of state during the transitional phase.

Al-Sharaa, who is also known as Abu Muhammad al-Jaulani or Jolani, has been the leader of the Syrian militia HTS since 2017. This led the rebel offensive that toppled long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

He was already considered Syria's political leader without being appointed interim president. At the end of December, he announced that it could take three years to draw up a new constitution. It could even take four years before elections are held.

Emphatically moderate program
After the fall of the Assad regime, the rebel leadership announced that it would not issue any dress codes for women, disband the fighting forces and integrate their members into the armed forces. The former military commander has adopted an emphatically moderate stance since the change of power. al-Sharaa has been tasked with setting up a council for the transitional phase.

At a conference in Damascus, the new rulers declared that they would suspend the 2012 constitution. The parliament of the old government was dissolved. The Baath Party of ousted ruler Assad, which has already ceased its work in Syria, and its affiliated institutions will no longer be allowed to operate.

Although the country is politically fragmented and divided along sectarian lines after more than a decade of civil war, many Syrians associate the change of power with the hope of a new beginning.