Syria's Supreme Constitutional Court Finalizes List of Candidates for Presidential Election

A picture of President Bashar al-Assad in Arnous Square in Damascus yesterday (AFP)
A picture of President Bashar al-Assad in Arnous Square in Damascus yesterday (AFP)
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Syria's Supreme Constitutional Court Finalizes List of Candidates for Presidential Election

A picture of President Bashar al-Assad in Arnous Square in Damascus yesterday (AFP)
A picture of President Bashar al-Assad in Arnous Square in Damascus yesterday (AFP)

Syria's Supreme Constitutional Court has accepted three candidates for the presidential elections, including Abdullah Salloum Abdullah, Bashar Hafez al-Assad and Mahmoud Ahmad Marai.

The Chief of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Mohammad Jihad al-Laham, announced earlier that the court received six applications of complaint by the candidates whose applications to run for election were rejected.

He noted that the Court General Panel studied the complaints but rejected them.

He added that the court set the election campaign for the candidates from May 16 to 24.

The elections will be held for expatriates at Syrian consulates and embassies on May 20, and for the Syrians inside the country on May 26.

Notably, 51 people had submitted their applications for the elections.

Abdullah, 1956, from Aleppo, is a member of the Socialist Unionist Party and a member of the parliament for two cycles.

Marai, 1957, from Damascus countryside, is the head of the Arab Organization for Human Rights and secretary-general of the National Front for the Liberation of Syria.

Assad, 1965, was elected as a president in 2001, 2007, and 2014.



Türkiye Says It Believes Kurdish Fighters Will Be Forced Out of All Syrian Territory

Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler takes part in a NATO Defense Ministers' meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 12, 2023. (Reuters)
Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler takes part in a NATO Defense Ministers' meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 12, 2023. (Reuters)
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Türkiye Says It Believes Kurdish Fighters Will Be Forced Out of All Syrian Territory

Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler takes part in a NATO Defense Ministers' meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 12, 2023. (Reuters)
Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler takes part in a NATO Defense Ministers' meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 12, 2023. (Reuters)

Türkiye believes Syria's new rulers, including the Syrian National Army (SNA) armed group which Ankara backs, will drive Kurdish YPG fighters from all territory they occupy in northeastern Syria, Defense Minister Yasar Guler said on Sunday.

Türkiye regards the Syrian YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants who have fought an insurgency against the Turkish state for 40 years and are deemed terrorists by Ankara, Washington, and the European Union.

The YPG spearheads an alliance, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is backed by the United States and controls territory in northeastern Syria. Since the fall of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad two weeks ago, Türkiye and Syrian groups it backs have fought against the SDF, seizing the city of Manbij.

"We believe that the new leadership in Syria and the Syrian National Army, which is an important part of its army, along with the Syrian people, will free all territories occupied by terrorist organizations," Guler said during a visit to Turkish troops on the Syrian border with military commanders.

"We will also take every necessary measure with the same determination until all terrorist elements beyond our borders are cleared," he said in a video released by his ministry.

Ankara has demanded the Syrian Kurdish fighters disband, and has called on Washington to withdraw its support. The US military acknowledged last week it has 2,000 troops on the ground in Syria, twice as many as it had said previously.

On Saturday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Türkiye would do "whatever it takes" to ensure its security if Syria's new administration was unable to address its concerns.