Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has signed a short lived structure that can be in drive for a five-year transitional interval, three months after his forces led a lightning offensive that toppled Bashar al-Assad’s authorities.
Al-Sharaa mentioned he hoped the constitutional declaration would mark the beginning of “a brand new historical past for Syria, the place we change oppression with justice”, as he signed the doc on Thursday.
The short-term structure retains some elements of its predecessor, together with the stipulation that the pinnacle of state needs to be a Muslim and the institution of Islamic regulation as the primary supply of jurisprudence, mentioned Abdulhamid al-Awak, a member of the drafting committee.
Reporting from Damascus, Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar mentioned the query of introducing guidelines on the non secular affiliation of leaders had been a “disputed concern”.
“There have been a lot of questions over whether or not that was going to be one of many articles or not, however now it’s clear that the pinnacle of state needs to be a Muslim,” he mentioned.
The doc additionally consists of provisions enshrining freedom of expression and the press and ladies’s “social, political and financial rights”, mentioned al-Awak, including that it could serve to “steadiness between social safety and freedom” throughout Syria’s shaky political scenario.
A lot of its focus can be on transitional justice, aiming to make sure that crimes dedicated underneath the earlier al-Assad authorities are prosecuted.
Beneath the short-term structure, govt energy would even be restricted to the president, mentioned al-Awak, pointing to the necessity for “speedy motion to confront any difficulties”.
A individuals’s meeting, a 3rd of which can be appointed by the president, can be tasked with all laws “till the elections are held”, mentioned Serdar. “That’s maybe going to take, based on the president, as much as 4 to 5 years.”
“That meeting of individuals may have authority of … sacking the president himself as properly. So theoretically that’s attainable, however virtually it’s going to be extraordinarily tough as a result of [many of] the members … are going to be appointed instantly by the president himself.”
A brand new committee to draft a everlasting structure can be shaped, however it’s unclear if it is going to be extra inclusive of Syria’s political, non secular, and ethnic teams.
Al-Sharaa on Monday reached a landmark pact with the US-backed Kurdish-led authorities in northeastern Syria, together with a ceasefire and a merging of their armed forces with the central authorities’s safety businesses.
The settlement got here after authorities forces and allied teams crushed a rebel launched final week by gunmen loyal to al-Assad.
Rights teams say that a whole bunch of civilians – largely from the Alawite minority sect to which al-Assad belongs – have been killed in retaliatory assaults by factions within the counter-offensive.
Syria’s interim rulers are nonetheless making an attempt to exert their authority throughout a lot of the nation since al-Sharaa’s group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, led the assault that overthrew al-Assad in December.
Critics say that al-Sharaa’s nationwide dialogue convention final month calling for the short-term structure and holding interim parliamentary elections was not inclusive of Syria’s totally different ethnic and sectarian teams or civil society.
Israel strikes Damascus
The signing of the constitutional declaration got here because the Israeli Air Pressure performed an air strike in Damascus on Thursday.
“We heard two loud explosions nearly on the similar time the constitutional declaration was being signed,” mentioned Al Jazeera’s Serdar, including that studies that one particular person had been killed have been nonetheless unconfirmed.
Israel’s navy mentioned in an announcement it had focused a “terrorist command centre” in Damascus belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, which fought alongside Hamas in Gaza in opposition to Israel.
Islamic Jihad spokesperson Muhammad al-Haj Musa denied the focused constructing was a command centre, writing on Telegram that it was an empty home.
Two Syrian safety sources informed the information company Reuters that the goal was a Palestinian particular person.
“This can be a present of drive undoubtedly and Israelis simply wish to ensure that the brand new management within the nation is conscious that Israel is monitoring them, is watching them,” mentioned Serdar.
“That is the psychological sport of Israel,” he mentioned. “Israel undoubtedly is now by doing that making the job of the brand new administration extraordinarily tough whereas the nation is making an attempt to protect the state equipment … and making an attempt to get well from the civil battle.”
