Ahmed al-Sharaa's tenure as the president of Syria began on 29 January 2025, when he was officially appointed by the Syrian General Command at the Syrian Revolution Victory Conference, succeeding Bashar al-Assad. As mandated by the Constitutional Declaration, he is to serve as president for a five-year transitional period.
Al-Sharaa launched an 11-day military offensive against the Assad regime in November 2024, after which Assad fled to Russia as his government collapsed. He then became Syria's de facto leader, heading the Syrian caretaker government from 8 December 2024 until 29 January 2025, when he was formally appointed as the president of Syria. As president of Syria's transitional government, he prioritized consolidating authority, rebuilding state institutions, unifying armed factions, and restoring Syria's international relations, including ties with the United States, Russia, and other regional powers. He signed a constitutional declaration establishing a five-year transitional period that enshrined Islamic jurisprudence as the main source of legislation with plans to hold elections afterwards. In October 2025, a parliamentary election was held under al-Sharaa's administration, the first since the fall of the Ba'athist regime.
Extensive negotiations with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to integrate their military and civil institutions into the state remained inconclusive throughout 2025. In 2026, following clashes in Aleppo between the transitional government and SDF forces, he issued a decree recognizing Syrian Kurds as an integral part of the Syrian people and recognized the Kurdish language. His administration launched a successful offensive against the SDF, beginning in eastern Aleppo Governorate around Deir Hafir and Maskanah before expanding into Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, and al-Hasakah. The offensive ultimately resulted in a ceasefire and an integration agreement, culminating in the full integration of its civil institutions into the Syrian state and the dissolution of the SDF in August 2026.
Al-Sharaa's first year in office saw massacres targeting Alawites in coastal Syria and clashes with the Druze in southern Syria, both involving troops linked to the government. In 2025, Time magazine listed him as one of the world's 100 most influential people. In the same year, The Economist awarded its country of the year title to Syria, under al-Sharaa's presidency, noting that he had generated a "series of positive surprises".
Since his appointment as president of Syria following the fall of the Assad regime, al-Sharaa has been described as a strongman. According to ORF Middle East, al-Sharaa inherited a state lacking capital, functioning institutions, a monopoly on force, and international legitimacy, but benefited from Western and regional support for a stable Syria less aligned with Iran and Russia. He has sought to use this support to strengthen his government amid its limited domestic capacity.
Background In late November 2024, Ahmed al-Sharaa led Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in the 2024 Syrian opposition offensives against the Ba'athist Syrian government's armed forces. On 6 December, in a face-to-face interview with CNN, al-Sharaa declared that the offensive's goal was to remove Assad from power. He outlined plans for establishing a government grounded in institutions and a "council chosen by the people". He also expressed his intention to facilitate the return of Syrian refugees to their homes and explicitly pledged to protect minority groups.
Fall of the Assad regime
On 8 December 2024, Damascus fell to opposition forces, resulting in the collapse of the Assad regime, which had governed Syria as a hereditary sectarian totalitarian regime since 1971 following a coup d'état.
HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa then became the de facto leader of Syria, serving as General Commander and head of the new Syrian Administration. The same day, al-Sharaa delivered a speech at Damascus's Umayyad Mosque, calling Assad's overthrow "a new chapter in the history of the region" and condemning Syria's role as "a playground for Iranian ambitions", characterized by sectarianism and corruption. After the fall of the Assad regime, Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali, Bashar al-Assad's ninth prime minister, remained in office in a caretaker capacity until a caretaker government led by Mohammed al-Bashir was formed, and the position of prime minister was subsequently abolished on 29 March 2025 when the Syrian transitional government replaced the caretaker administration. Post-Assad governance
Only a few days afterwards, al-Sharaa met with Turkish officials, marking the first diplomatic delegation to Syria since the fall of the Assad regime. The United States rescinded a seven-year-old $10 million bounty on information leading to al-Sharaa's capture after he met with a U.S. delegation—the first formal U.S. diplomatic presence in Syria in over 10 years—with a U.S. envoy stating that the action was a political decision to initiate dialogue with HTS, noting that during the Damascus discussions al-Sharaa committed not to allow ISIS or other terrorist groups to operate within Syria.
On 24 December, al-Sharaa announced the dissolution and merger of multiple rebel factions, including the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army, into the Ministry of Defense, while excluding the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces due to conflicts with Turkish-backed rebels in northeastern Syria. This reorganization coincided with his efforts to establish new state institutions, including law enforcement and security forces, amid reports of revenge killings and highway banditry, and included the creation of processing centers for former regime soldiers and the initiation of police force recruitment.
In an interview with al-Arabiya on 29 December, al-Sharaa said that he expected the process of writing a new permanent constitution of Syria to take two or three years, with elections expected after four years. Later that day, al-Sharaa announced the promotion of 42 individuals to the rank of Colonel, five to the rank of Brigadier General, and two to the rank of Major General in the Syrian Army to the Minister of Defence, Murhaf Abu Qasra, and Chief of the General Staff of the Syrian Armed Forces, Ali Noureddine al-Naasan, who were both elevated to the rank of Major General. On 30 December, Ukraine's top diplomat met with al-Sharaa in Damascus.
On 3 January 2025, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot became the first top diplomats from European Union member states to visit Damascus since the fall of Assad, meeting with al-Sharaa to discuss a new political beginning between Europe and Syria, and on 29 January, a Russian delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov also visited Damascus to meet al-Sharaa, reaffirming Moscow's support for Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity following the regime's collapse.
Appointment
On 29 January 2025, during the Syrian Revolution Victory Conference held at the People's Palace, Hassan Abdul Ghani, spokesman for the HTS-led Military Operations Command, stated that al-Sharaa had been appointed as the president of Syria and would govern the country during the transitional period, assume the duties of the president, and represent the nation on the international stage.
After his appointment as president, al-Sharaa delivered a brief speech outlining the government's immediate priorities, which included filling the power vacuum, maintaining civil peace, building state institutions, developing the economy, and restoring Syria's international and regional standing. In his first address as president on 31 January, he stated:
From here, I address you today in my capacity as president of Syria in this fateful period, asking God to grant us all success so we can revive our homeland, and overcome the challenges that we are facing, and that will only be through all standing together in people and leadership. I address you today not as a ruler but as a servant for our wounded homeland, striving with all power and will I have been given to realise Syria's unity and renaissance, as we should all understand that this is a transitional stage, and it is part of a political process that requires true participation by all Syrian men and women, inside and outside the country, so that we can build their future with freedom and dignity, without marginalisation or sidelining.Al-Sharaa received congratulations from the leaders of several countries, including Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Canada, Mauritania, Morocco, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.Multiple sources: On 1 February 2025, , Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), congratulated al-Sharaa on assuming Syria's presidency, expressed confidence in his leadership, and reaffirmed the GCC's support during the transitional period, while on 17 February, Mazloum Abdi, commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces, also congratulated him on assuming the presidency and invited him to visit northeastern Syria.
First 100 days Asharq Al-Awsat reported that the first 100 days of al-Sharaa's presidency received mixed reactions. Syria remained politically and regionally divided and continued to face foreign influence and various forms of external occupation. The country also confronted serious economic challenges. Despite the government's controversial background, the transitional administration managed to ease some international concerns and restore communication with key regional and global partners. On 12 March 2025, the Syrian caretaker government announced the formation of a National Security Council to be chaired by al-Sharaa.
Administration
Cabinet
On 29 March 2025, al-Sharaa announced the formation of Syria's transitional government during a ceremony at the People's Palace in Damascus, where the newly appointed ministers took their oaths and presented their plans, replacing the Syrian caretaker government. The transitional government included four ministers from minority groups—Yaarub Bader, an Alawite; Amjad Badr, a Druze; Hind Kabawat, a Christian; and Mohammad Abdul Rahman Tarkou, a Kurd—as well as figures from different former opposition groups, such as Mohammed Abu al-Khair Shukri, former member of the Syrian National Coalition and the new Minister of Endowments, and Raed al-Saleh, former Director of the White Helmets and the new Minister of Disaster Management and Emergency Response, and was described by some observers as technocratic, with ministers chosen according to their competences, according to al-Sharaa.
Al-Sharaa stated that the new government will reform the energy sector for sustainability and reliable electricity, support farmers to ensure food production, revive the industry, protect national products, attract investment, stabilize the economy, strengthen the Syrian pound, and prevent financial manipulation. He also retained Asaad al-Shaibani as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates and Murhaf Abu Qasra as Minister of Defense.
On 9 May, as part of a partial government reshuffle, al-Sharaa appointed Khaled Fawaz Zaarour and Basel al-Suweydan as the Ministers of Information and Agriculture, replacing Hamza al-Mustafa and Amjad Badr, respectively. The reshuffle was the first since the ouster of former president Bashar al-Assad.
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