Syrians react to announcement of new president

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(30 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTIONS SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Damascus - 30 January 2025
1. Person holding flags
2. Various of people and traffic in streets
3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mahmoud Ammar, local resident:
“Our brother Ahmed Al-Sharaa, when he appeared on the screen as an alternative to the previous regime, we found him turning directly towards the concerns of the citizen. He began to talk about a loaf of bread, talking about a gas cylinder, talking about increasing salaries.”
4. Various of people in the streets, some holding flags
5. Mid of traffic
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Noura Kajak, local resident:
“Congratulations, we wanted Ahmed Al-Sharaa to be the president of the republic from the beginning. It is clear to us what he will be like in the future, and how he will run the country and protect us, and so on."

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Damascus - 29 January 2025
++NIGHT SHOTS++
7. Various of crowds gathered, celebrating and waving flags
8. People in vehicles celebrating, waving flags
9. Various of crowds gathered, celebrating and waving flags
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abdallah al-Sweid, local resident:
“I think this was the right decision because this person is someone who is intelligent and has a good understanding and he was the leader of the battle that freed Syria. He is someone who deserves to be president.”
11. Various of celebration
STORYLINE:
Residents celebrated in the streets of Damascus at the news the leader of a group that helped topple president Bashar Assad last month was named Syria's interim president.

The Syrian factions that ousted Assad named Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was once aligned with al-Qaida, as Syria's president “in the transitional phase” on Wednesday after a meeting of the former insurgent factions in the Syrian capital. 

The former insurgents also threw out Syria’s constitution, adopted under Assad, saying a new charter would be drafted soon.

Formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, al-Sharaa is the head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which led the lightning offensive that toppled Assad in early December. The group was once affiliated with al-Qaida but has since denounced its former ties. 

Syrians took to the streets in Damascus and elsewhere to celebrate the announcement, honking car horns and in some cases firing in the air.

Many expressed support for al-Sharaa. 

“This person is someone who is intelligent and has a good understanding and he was the leader of the battle that freed Syria,” said Abdallah al-Sweid, who was among those celebrating at Umayyad Square in Damascus.

“He is someone who deserves to be president.”

Mahmoud Ammar, a Damascus resident, agreed.

“We found him turning directly towards the concerns of the citizen. He began to talk about a loaf of bread, talking about a gas cylinder, talking about increasing salaries.”

In recent years, al-Sharaa has sought to cast himself as a champion of pluralism and tolerance and promised to protect the rights of women and religious minorities.

The United States had previously placed a $10 million bounty on al-Sharaa but canceled it last month after a U.S. delegation visited Damascus and met with him.

Top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, Barbara Leaf said after the meeting that al-Sharaa came across as “pragmatic.”

AP video shot by Omar Albam

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