Syria's interim president vows to preserve 'civil peace' in first address

Syria's interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa (L) showing Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani a view of Damascus from Qasyoun mountain, on January 30, 2025.

In his first address as Syria's interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the lightning removal of former dictator Bashar al-Assad, vowed to preserve "civil peace" and issue a "constitutional declaration", presenting core elements of his plan to rebuild the country.

Syria's interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, promised Thursday to hold a "national dialogue conference" in his first address to the nation since the fall of ousted leader Bashar al-Assad.

Sharaa, who was appointed interim president a day earlier for an unspecified transitional period, vowed to preserve "civil peace" and Syria's territorial unity.

"We will announce in the coming days a committee charged with preparing the national dialogue conference, a direct platform for discussions, to listen to different points of view on our future political programme," Sharaa said in the prerecorded televised address.

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Sharaa also committed to issuing a "constitutional declaration" to serve as a "legal reference" during the country's transition, following the suspension of the old constitution.

And he vowed to "pursue the criminals who shed Syrian blood and committed massacres and crimes", whether they were in Syria or abroad, and to establish "real transitional justice" after Assad's fall.

A transitional government had previously been appointed to steer the multi-ethnic, multi-confessional country until March 1.


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