Ahmed al-Sharaa, leader of Syrian Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which ousted Bashar al-Assad last month, will assume the presidency during Syria’s transitional period. The period will also see a suspension of the constitution and a dissolution of parliament.  

The announcements came during a conference in Damascus called the Declaration of the Victory of the Syrian Revolution, attended by the armed factions that fought alongside HTS in the offensive. The spokesperson for Syria’s Military Operations Department, Col. Hassan Abdul Ghani, announced plans to dissolve all military and rebel factions and integrate them into the state military, as well as plans to suspend the constitution for a transitional period. Sharaa is also set to form a temporary legislative council for the transitional period until a new constitution is adopted, though there was no mention of when a new constitution might be drafted.

In his opening speech, Sharaa identified the top priorities of the de facto Syrian government as “filling the power vacuum, maintaining civil peace, building state institutions, working to develop economic infrastructure and restoring Syria’s regional and international standing." 

A key component to maintaining peace and security in Syria will be the dissolution of the scores of military groups throughout the country, officials said. The process of dissolution, according to Ghani, will include “all military factions, political and civil revolutionary bodies,” which are to be integrated into state institutions. Presumably, this includes Sharaa's own group, HTS, an al-Qaeda offshoot, which wasn't mentioned by name in the statement.

Just before his speech, Sharaa reportedly held a meeting with military and rebel factions at the People’s Palace in Damascus, where this issue was discussed.

On Tuesday, the al-Qaeda affiliated Hurras al-Din group, which split from HTS in 2018 and fought against Assad’s government in Syria, announced it was dissolving. The group said it was disbanding because its mission in Syria had ended after "liberating the land" from Assad.

Ghani also declared the dissolution of Assad's Arab Socialist Baath Party and the National Progressive Front — a left-leaning coalition that supported the Baath Party under Assad — along with all affiliated groups. “It is prohibited to reconstitute them under any name, and all their assets must return to the Syrian state,” he said. 

Ghani announced that Sharaa will assume the presidency “in the transitional phase, and he will carry out duties of the presidency and represent it in international forums." 

Since sweeping to power on Dec. 8, Syria's new leadership has pledged to host a national dialogue conference that would bring together a cross section of Syrian society to provide input on the new constitution. That conference is planned to occur before March 1, when the interim government's tenure is set to expire, though it remains unclear whether elections will be held after March 1 or if the interim government, led by interim Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir, will remain in place. 

In an interview with Al Arabiya on Dec. 29, Sharaa said that "the election process could take four years" and that rewriting the constitution could take "two or three years." Sharaa added, "The infrastructure for elections right now is very flawed. We need to rebuild it."

Sharaa is set to make his first oversees trip as de facto leader to Saudi Arabia in the near term, per reports. Last Friday, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan visited Damascus and met with Sharaa, where the two signaled a readiness for opening a new chapter in Saudi-Syrian relations, which over the past decade have been strained.