Rebel Leader Who Overthrew al-Assad is Declared Syrias President

The rebel coalition that seized control of Syria last month appointed its leader, Ahmed al-Shara, as president of the country to preside over a transitional period, Syrian state media reported on Wednesday.A spokesman for the coalition, Col.Hassan Abdel Ghani, also declared that the Constitution had been nullified and the legislature and army formed under the country’s deposed dictator, Bashar al-Assad, were dissolved, according to Syria’s state news agency, SANA.The declarations amounted to the country’s first official steps toward establishing a new government after the rebel coalition, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, swept into the capital, Damascus, last month in a lightning offensive that toppled Mr.

al-Assad.Mr.

al-Shara, who led that coalition, has since been serving as the country’s de facto leader.As the president of the transitional government, Mr.al-Shara will be at the helm of a once unimaginable period of transition in Syria, which had been ruled by the iron fist of the Assad family for more than 50 years....