Rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa named Syria’a interim president

Syrian factions appoint Islamist leader as interim president, annul constitution, and aim to rebuild post-civil war Syria.

The Syrian factions that toppled President Bashar Assad named an Islamist former rebel leader as the country‘s interim president on Wednesday in a push to project a united front as they face the monumental task of rebuilding Syria after nearly 14 years of civil war.

The former insurgents also threw out Syria’s constitution, adopted under Assad, saying a new charter would be drafted soon.

The appointment of Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was once aligned with al-Qaida, as Syria's president “in the transitional phase” came after a meeting of the former insurgent factions in Damascus, the Syrian capital.

The announcement was made by the spokesperson for Syria’s new, de facto government’s military operations sector, Col. Hassan Abdul Ghani, the state-run SANA news agency said. The exact mechanism under which the factions selected al-Sharra as interim president was not clear.

Formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, al-Sharaa is the head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which led the lightning offensive that toppled Assad in early December. The group was once affiliated with al-Qaida but has since denounced its former ties.

In recent years, al-Sharaa has sought to cast himself as a champion of pluralism and tolerance and promised to protect the rights of women and religious minorities.

The United States had previously placed a $10 million bounty on al-Sharaa but canceled it last month after a U.S. delegation visited Damascus and met with him. Top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, Barbara Leaf said after the meeting that al-Sharaa came across as “pragmatic.”