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)
TT

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.



UN Security Council Says Peacekeeping Force Should Remain on the Israel-Syria Border

Israeli army humvees move in the UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights on December 21, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
Israeli army humvees move in the UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights on December 21, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
TT

UN Security Council Says Peacekeeping Force Should Remain on the Israel-Syria Border

Israeli army humvees move in the UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights on December 21, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
Israeli army humvees move in the UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights on December 21, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)

The UN Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution extending the UN peacekeeping force on the Israel-Syria border and underscoring that there should be no military activities in the demilitarized buffer zone.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israeli troops will occupy the buffer zone for the foreseeable future. Israel captured the buffer zone shortly after the collapse of Syrian President Bashar Assad's government, The Associated Press said.
The resolution adopted Friday stressed that both countries are obligated “to scrupulously and fully respect” the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement that ended the 1973 war between Syria and Israel and established the buffer zone. The resolution was co-sponsored by the United States and Russia.
The Security Council extended the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force monitoring the border area, known as UNDOF, until June 30, 2025 and called for a halt to all military actions throughout the country including in UNDOF’s area of operations.
The resolution expresses concern that ongoing military activities in the area of separation have the potential to escalate Israeli-Syrian tensions and jeopardize the 1974 ceasefire. It also expresses alarm that violence in Syria “risks a serious conflagration of the conflict in the region.”