Syria's new leader Ahmad Al Shara said on Thursday that he would impose the power of the state on the whole of country, as the central authorities deal with challenges in the east and west stemming from the civil war.
A rebel coalition that overthrew former leader Bashar Al Assad declared Mr Al Shara as Syria's President on Wednesday. The coalition, called the Operations Room, is dominated by his group, Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, a former offshoot of Al Qaeda and Al Nusra Front.
"We will concentrate in the coming period on … completely uniting the whole of Syria and bringing it under a single authority, and build institutions based on merit and free of corruption," Mr Al Shara said in a three-minute televised statement.
Syria's leader Ahmad Al Shara meets officials in Damascus - in pictures
The new central authorities will also "instil civil peace and pursue the criminals who have spilt Syrian blood and committed toward us crimes and massacres", he said, referring to loyalists of the former Assad family regime, who ruled Syria from 1970 to 2024.
The power of Mr Al Shara, who was until last month ruler of a small fiefdom in northern Syria, is being challenged on two fronts in the outlying areas of the country. Since the civil war began in late 2011, Kurdish militias have carved out large areas in the east of the country, while core loyalists of Mr Al Assad entrenched themselves in the western Alawite mountains overlooking the coast.
HTS forces have launched a military campaign to subdue members of the former regime. At the same time, Syrian militias loyal to Turkey and allied with HTS have launched an offensive against the Kurdish-led militias that control the east.
Syrians in remote desert refugee camp hail Assad's downfall - but cannot leave - video
The ascendancy of Mr Al Shara has sparked fears the country will fail to change into a system fundamentally different from the iron rule he played a main role in toppling.
He vowed that there will be free elections in Syria, without setting a time. He said the authorities will fist appoint a legislature and convene a national dialogue conference to "listen to all views about our upcoming political programme".
Mr Al Shara did not mention pluralism or democracy directly. He said that Syria, having been liberated from 54 years of "one the darkest tyrannical rules" the world had known, will be "governed by shura", a form of collective decision making in Islam.
