A sweeping round of senior security appointments announced Sunday by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa amounts to a fundamental restructuring of the country’s security apparatus, driven by both domestic security concerns and mounting political and economic pressure from abroad, according to Syrian security and strategic affairs analyst Ismat al-Absi.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, al-Absi said the appointments reflect a clear effort to consolidate security authority in the hands of al-Sharaa and Interior Minister Anas Khattab by placing both Public Security, including policing and internal security, and National Security under a single command.
The move effectively ends the institutional divide and potential rivalry between the Interior Ministry and the intelligence services, making Khattab the sole authority overseeing both strategic and operational security decision-making, al-Absi said.
Hussein al-Salama will assume an executive role reporting directly to Khattab on national security affairs, while the General Intelligence Directorate will be headed by Abdul Qader Tahan within the unified structure.
Al-Absi said the appointments also mark a broader institutional overhaul, noting that the changes are intended to bring the transitional phase to a close by establishing a unified centralized security structure after concerns over overlapping authorities among agencies with different backgrounds, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
