By bnm Gulf bureau Ahmed al-Sharaa has signed a draft constitutional declaration, making him president of Syria for a five-year transitional period, state media reported on March 13. The committee tasked with drafting the constitutional declaration has granted the new Syrian president the authority to declare a state of emergency,

Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa on Thursday hailed the start of a "new history" for his country, signing into force a constitutional declaration regulating its five-year transitional period and laying out rights for women and freedom of expression.

Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa was born in October 1982 in Saudi Arabia, where he spent the first seven years of his life. In a rare photograph of him as a child, found in a dossier compiled by Assad’s intelligence services, Sharaa has the same unsmiling, enigmatic expression he is often seen wearing today.

Syria's new constitutional declaration maintains Islamic law as central during a transitional period under President Ahmed al-Sharaa. It ensures women's rights and freedom of expression. The declaration marks a shift from the former constitution and supports an inclusive governance approach,

Syria’s interim president has signed a temporary constitution that leaves the country under Islamist rule for five years during a transitional phase

Religious and ethnic minorities, as well as the US and Europe, are wary about freedom of expression protections