The rebel coalition that seized control of Syria last month appointed its leader, Ahmed al-Shara, as president of the country to preside over a transitional period, Syrian state media reported on Wednesday.
A spokesman for the coalition, Col. Hassan Abdel Ghani, also declared that the Constitution had been nullified and the legislature and army formed under the country’s deposed dictator, Bashar al-Assad, were dissolved, according to Syria’s state news agency, SANA.
The declarations amounted to the country’s first official steps toward establishing a new government after the rebel coalition, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or H.T.S., swept into the capital, Damascus, last month in a lightning offensive that toppled Mr. al-Assad. Mr. al-Shara, who led that coalition, has since been serving as the country’s de facto leader.
As the president of the transitional government, Mr. al-Shara will be at the helm of a once unimaginable period of transition in Syria, which had been ruled by the iron fist of the Assad family for more than 50 years.
After nearly 14 years of civil war that left Syria severely fractured, Mr. al-Shara is trying to unite many disparate rebel factions under a single government. But it was not immediately clear whether there was a broad consensus among those groups about his appointment as president for a transitional period.
The declarations on Wednesday were published during a meeting in Damascus between H.T.S. officials and leaders of some of the other rebel groups that opposed Mr. al-Assad.
Since H.T.S. seized Damascus in early December, Mr. al-Shara has laid out lofty goals for the country, including rebuilding the state, ridding its institutions of corruption and cronyism and freeing the country free from the terror that defined Mr. al-Assad’s government — particularly during the country’s long civil war.
“What Syria needs today is greater than ever before,” he said in remarks published by SANA on Wednesday. “Just as we were determined to liberate it in the past, our duty now is to commit to rebuilding and advancing it.”
But many Syrians have questioned whether Mr. al-Shara will be able to deliver on its sweeping promises and reconcile his rebel group’s militant Islamist roots with a largely secular state.
His armed Islamist group evolved years ago from an affiliate of Al Qaeda and Mr. al-Shara has had a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head for years. American officials announced in a visit to Damascus last month that they had planned to scrap that designation.
Mr. al-Shara is now expected to establish a temporary legislative council that will govern the country until a new constitution is adopted, according to SANA.
Reham Mourshed contributed reporting.
