Al-Sharaa was also authorised to form a temporary legislative council for the transitional phase, state media reports.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has been named president for a transitional phase and the country’s constitution has been suspended, the Syrian state news agency (SANA) reported.
Al-Sharaa was also authorised to form a temporary legislative council for the transitional phase which will carry out its task until a new constitution is adopted, SANA reported on Wednesday.
The announcement was made by the spokesperson for Syria’s new de facto government’s military operations sector, Hassan Abdel Ghani, the state-run SANA news agency said.
Abdel Ghani also announced the dissolution of the armed factions in the country, which he said would be absorbed into state institutions.
“All military factions are dissolved … and integrated into state institutions,” the state news agency quoted Abdel Ghani as saying. He also announced “the dissolution of the defunct regime’s army” and security agencies, as well as the Baath party, which ruled Syria for decades.
The announcements emerged during a Damascus meeting of armed factions that had joined the lightning offensive that toppled President Bashar al-Assad last month. Al-Sharaa has been Syria’s de facto ruler since leading the offensive.
After al-Assad’s removal, al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group became the de facto governing party and set up an interim government largely composed of officials from the local government it previously ran in rebel-held Idlib province.
Al-Sharaa has pledged to embark on a political transition including a national conference, an inclusive government and eventual elections, which he has said could take up to four years to hold.
He has also called for the creation of a new unified national army and security forces, but questions loom over how the interim administration can bring together a patchwork of former opposition rebel groups, each with their own leaders and ideology.
Transition begins
Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid, reporting from Damascus, said the announcements on Wednesday provided “more clarity on the way forward” for Syria.
“This presidency will be for the transitionary period, but we don’t know how long that will last. This will also pave way for the international community to lift sanctions,” he said.
“In the last 48 hours, we’ve heard about an EU [European Union] roadmap to lift sanctions completely. This will be crucial because it affects everyone in Syria, in all aspects of society and people. That will make or break how the economy functions and how Syria will move forward,” he added.
Radwan Ziadeh, senior analyst at the Arab Center Washington DC, a research organisation, said the announcements marked the “transition of power into civilian hands”.
“Al-Sharaa will appoint members of a legislative body, which will make institutional declarations over the next few days,” he said.
“We’ve seen [similar political transitions] in Africa and Latin America. What’s important today is that the political process has started. We’ve transferred the power from military groups into a political process.”