Is Syria’s Ahmad al-Sharaa ignoring domestic challenges?

Syria interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa addresses the eightieth session of the United Nations General Assembly (Image credit: AP)

For Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, this week’s speech on the United Nations General Assembly in New York marked a milestone in his profession and within the recognition of the nation.“Syria is reclaiming its rightful place among the nations of the world,” al-Sharaa mentioned in New York.It was the primary time a Syrian head of state had attended the United Nations General Assembly, or UNGA, since 1967.During the next 50 years of iron-fisted rule by the Assad household in Syria, relations with the United States remained chilly. Syria was represented on the UNGA by international ministers slightly than by the pinnacle of state.However, ties between Syria, the US and plenty of Western international locations have been thawing since December 2024, when an offensive led by the Islamist militia Hayat Tahrir al-Sham beneath Ahmad al-Sharaa ousted long-time dictator Bashar Assad and in addition introduced almost 14 years of civil struggle to a detailed.“Ahmad al-Sharaa does appear to be very aware of the need for tangible improvements and the need to now translate wider international momentum into solid gains, knowing that the stability of his government and the country will be directly tied to progress,” Julien Barnes-Dacey, director of the MENA programme on the European council on international relations, informed DW.

Domestic challenges stay

However, Syria’s rising worldwide recognition stands in stark distinction to the continued regional and domestic instability.In his deal with to the UNGA, al-Sharaa condemned Israel’s frequent strikes “which contradict with the international community’s support to Syria and its people.” While he highlighted that Syria stays “committed to dialogue,” he dominated out that Syria would normalise relations with Israel anytime quickly.Meanwhile, US-led negotiations with Israel have shifted focus from pursuing full diplomatic normalisation to searching for a safety settlement which will embrace the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Syrian territory and a return to the 1974 disengagement accord (The settlement offered for the continuation of a ceasefire and the separation of opposing troops by a UN peacekeeping drive — the ed.).Al-Sharaa additionally raised the difficulty of the lethal sectarian violence in opposition to non secular and ethnic teams, such because the Alawite, Christian and Druze minority that occurred beneath his rule this 12 months. The assaults allegedly concerned governmental forces and aligned militias.“I promise to bring anyone whose hands are tainted with the blood of Syrian people to justice,” al-Sharaa vowed in New York, including that Syria had fashioned fact-finding missions and gave the United Nations the proper to analyze the killings.

Controversial upcoming elections

Al-Sharaa additionally reiterated to respect minority rights and to kind an inclusive authorities that displays Syria’s various ethnic and non secular make-up.Critics, nevertheless, say that Syria’s upcoming parliamentary elections lack real democratic illustration. The vote, which was postponed from mid-September to October 5, will exclude two minorities from three areas because of safety considerations and absence of central management.Another level of rivalry is that 121 seats in Syria’s new parliament in Damascus shall be chosen by electoral our bodies with sturdy ties to the president. Originally, there have been 140 seats up for election; nevertheless, because of the exclusion of two minorities, 19 seats will not be crammed in the interim. The remaining seats on the new People’s Assembly shall be appointed immediately by al-Sharaa.“There is a sense that al-Sharaa’s focus on centralising power under his leadership is closing the space for a more inclusive governance approach that provides space for minorities and a geographical federalisation of power,” Barnes-Dacey warned.In his speech, al-Sharaa known as for the entire lifting of sanctions “so that they no longer shackle the Syrian people.” In his view, Syria has gone from an “exporter of crisis” to a spot of “opportunity” that ought to not face additional worldwide sanctions.While many sanctions, resembling these imposed by the EU and the US after the outbreak of the Syrian civil struggle in 2011, had been lifted earlier this 12 months, essentially the most stringent sanctions, the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act from 2019, stay in place. These sanctions had been meant to create accountability for crimes by the earlier Syrian authorities beneath Assad, in addition to his allies, Russia and Iran. However, their everlasting removing is determined by the US Congress.“He has a strong case here in terms of the centrality of sanctions relief which he is successfully delivering through his engagement with the US and which will be critical to opening up economic inflows that the country so desperately needs,” ECFR’s Barnes-Dacey mentioned.

Poll reveals excessive ranges of optimism

“Unfortunately, the change in Syria coincides with a crisis in international development assistance,” Bente Scheller, who heads the Middle East and North Africa division on the German political Heinrich Böll basis in Berlin, informed DW.“Especially now, when for the first time in decades we would really have the opportunity to support democratic change in Syria, the special funds for Syrian political foundations in Germany are running out,” she mentioned, including that “development cooperation budgets have been cut so massively that in the coming years we will hardly have any funds available for Syria.”Scheller cautioned that this might imply dropping a uncommon alternative to assist democratic change in Syria.According to the most recent Arab opinion index from September 18, 2025, 61% of Syrians favour a democratic authorities. However, for the authors of the excellent examine throughout Syria, essentially the most placing consequence was not the decision for democracy, which had already sparked the 2011 rebellion and was met with a brutal crackdown by Bashar al-Assad, triggering the struggle, however slightly the emergence of a brand new sense of optimism in Syria.“56% of respondents believe that Syria is moving in the right direction, and majorities describe emotions of relief, safety, happiness, and hope,” the authors wrote.In their view, these figures “act as a litmus test for the country’s political mood — respondents were optimistic despite worries about Syria’s potential partition, external intervention, and Israeli airstrikes and ground incursions into Syrian territory.”