Syrians went to the polls last month in an election that promised a new beginning. Thousands of delegates cast ballots to elect a new 210-seat People’s Assembly, marking the country’s first parliamentary vote since the fall of former dictator Bashar al-Assad. The moment signaled the fragile reemergence of a state struggling to reclaim legitimacy after years of civil war and sectarian division. Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the architect of Syria’s post-Assad transition, framed the elections as the cornerstone of a new political order—one intended to reconcile the country’s fractured communities and restore Syria’s standing on the world stage. Yet beneath the optimism of this democratic revival lies a lingering question: Can Sharaa truly serve as a unifying leader?
Since leading the erstwhile al-Qaida affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, in a lightning campaign that ousted Assad in late 2024, Sharaa has struggled to consolidate power. Governing a nation fractured along ethnic and sectarian lines remains his greatest challenge, as recurring outbreaks of communal violence continue to cast a grim shadow over Syria’s post-Assad security landscape. Militias in northern and southern Syria, composed largely of ethnic and religious minorities, remain wary of Sharaa due to his administration’s inability to prevent violence against minority communities.
This mistrust undermines his legitimacy as a unifying leader capable of steering Syria beyond the Assad era. As a result, Sharaa has attempted to strike deals with several militias to integrate them into the new Syrian army and the General Security Service, or GSS, which is Syria’s national police force operating under the Ministry of the Interior. Yet these arrangements have failed to secure lasting peace, as the deeper issues of sectarian grievances, transitional justice and indiscipline within government forces remain unresolved.
