Ex-al Qaeda member appointed Syria’s transitional president

Ahmad al-Sharaa, previously known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, is now going to take over the presidency of Syria in what is an unexpected new chapter for the country. He has been propelled into leadership after a protracted war that saw the demise of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, who ruled for decades.

The statement was given by Hassan Abdel Ghani, the spokesman for the Syria Military Operations Command, who said Al-Sharaa would be head of state during the transitional period. He will represent Syria in international forums and will oversee the restructuring of the nation. Among his first tasks is to form a temporary legislative council to serve until a permanent constitution is drafted and implemented.

The new command has introduced several measures as part of the transition that include suspending Syria’s constitution, dissolving parliament, and disbanding the former regime’s military forces and the ruling Baath Party.

Al-Sharaa’s leadership is the result of his role in leading the main militant group that played a central part in the offensive that ultimately led to Assad’s downfall. But the task he must now accomplish is to rebuild a country that has been torn apart by over a decade of conflict. A 2011 uprising during the protests of the Arab Spring turned into an all-out war; regional and global powers, including Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United States, and Russia, ended up involved. The instability also provided an opportunity for extremist groups like ISIS to establish a presence in the country.

Before his appointment, Al-Sharaa, to his credit, did acknowledge that the former regime left huge challenges, including what he termed deep societal, economic, and political wounds. He had said rebuilding Syria would require wisdom, dedication, and relentless struggle. He even showed nationalistic duty, indicating that just like his forces were fighting to liberate their country, so equally were they committed to rebuilding it.

Who is Ahmad al-Sharaa?

Ahmad al-Sharaa comes from a background of militancy. In his early twenties, he traveled to Iraq as a foreign fighter to fight against the U.S. invasion in 2003. At the time, he was captured and transferred to Camp Bucca, a U.S.-run prison in Iraq where many future leaders of extremist groups were held, including members of what would become ISIS.

He was released and took up arms against the Assad regime, starting a long career as an armed opposition figure. Backed initially by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who would later lead ISIS, he then formed Jabhat al-Nusra, or The Victory Front, an armed group whose allegiance lay with al-Qaeda. In 2016, he broke ties with al-Qaeda, rebranding his group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, and turning away from global jihad toward governance.

Unlike the ideology of al-Qaeda, which advocated for a holy war across the globe, HTS focused on running territories in Syria, especially in Idlib province, where it provided primary services to millions. According to analysts, such as Aaron Zelin, a terrorism scholar who studied HTS in depth, the group tried to establish itself as a political authority rather than purely a militant organization.

As appointed transition president of Syria, Al-Sharaa’s challenge is that he will have to steer the country out of the ruins of war, the divisions in its midst, and into discussions with the international community on its future.