Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa made a surprise tour on Friday of three provinces - Homs, Hama, and Idlib - in what appeared to be a carefully timed bid to showcase his grassroots support.
In Hama, widely seen as the symbolic heart of his power base, thousands of people enthusiastically gathered to welcome him.
The scenes were interpreted as a direct rebuttal to recent media claims that the new leadership’s popularity has been eroding in the wake of July’s bloodshed in the southern Sweida province, where hundreds were killed, and amid mounting internal pressure, including calls for autonomy in parts of the country and the continued backdrop of Israeli strikes on Syria.
Government-aligned sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that al-Sharaa’s authority rests on “five core strongholds - Daraa, Deir Ezzor, Homs, Idlib, and Hama, the latter being the central pillar.”
They described these regions as socially cohesive and politically reliable, forming a solid backbone for the state.
Homs and Hama, they added, demonstrated especially strong support, while Idlib remained significant as the province where al-Sharaa had built his movement in the final years of the struggle against Bashar al-Assad.
The sources stressed that the president has shown interest in all Syrian provinces, particularly Damascus as the political capital and Aleppo as the country’s economic center. Yet they underscored that the five “pillars” remain the cornerstone of the new government’s power structure.
Al-Sharaa’s unannounced visits to Homs and Hama on Friday surprised many residents. In Idlib, locals said they expected him to wrap up his tour with a meeting there, after spending the day in several rural towns.
According to a presidential statement, al-Sharaa met with prominent figures and community leaders in Homs “to reaffirm the state’s commitment to direct engagement with citizens and to listening to their aspirations.”
He also laid the cornerstone for a series of “Dar al-Salam” projects, alongside Governor Abdulrahman al-Ama, marking what officials described as the beginning of a new stage in reconstruction and investment for the province.
Observers noted that by resuming his provincial tours - interrupted after unrest in the coastal region on March 6 - al-Sharaa aims to garner public resolve behind his project of building a “new Syria.”
His next stops are expected in Deir Ezzor in the east and Raqqa in the northeast, where Arab tribes have grown increasingly restive over the unresolved negotiations with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The president’s outreach comes ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for mid-September, and just weeks before his trip to New York for UN General Assembly meetings. The visits coincide with reports that Washington is seeking to push forward some form of agreement or security arrangement between Syria and Israel.
