Osama al-Assaf
Osama al-Assaf | |
|---|---|
أسامة العساف | |
| Member of the People's Assembly for Abu Kamal | |
| Assumed office 6 October 2025 | |
| President | Ahmed al-Sharaa |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Osama Muhammad Saleh al-Assaf 1953 (age 72–73) |
| Party | Independent |
Osama Muhammad Saleh al-Assaf[a] (born c. 1953) is a Syrian lawyer and politician who has served as a member of the People’s Assembly for the constituency of Abu Kamal since October 2025. He is the oldest member of the People’s Assembly.[1] He presided over the first inaugural session of the People’s Assembly, the first legislature to convene since the fall of the Assad regime, until the members of the assembly elected Abdul Hamid al-Awak as Speaker.
Biography
Al-Assaf was born in Raqqa in the Second Syrian Republic in 1953.[2] Before the Syrian Revolution, he was arrested in the 1980s and spent five years in Saydnaya Prison.[2] After the revolution began, he participated in the revolutionary movement against Bashar al-Assad’s regime and served as a member of the Sharia and Human Rights Office of the local council in Abu Kamal after the Syrian Free Army took control of Abu Kamal in November 2012.[2] His house was bombed by Assad regime forces, resulting in the death of his wife, and he was later displaced after ISIS seized control of Abu Kamal in July 2014.[2] Following the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, al-Assaf ran in the 2025 parliamentary election as a representative of the Abu Kamal constituency in Deir ez-Zor Governorate, and his victory was announced on 6 October 2025.[2] Al-Assaf holds a degree in law.[2]
Presiding over the First Session of the People’s Assembly
The first session of the People's Assembly was held on 12 July 2026, becoming the first legislature to convene since the fall of the Assad regime.[3] Al-Assaf chaired the session until the selection process concluded,[4][5][6] during which he opened the nomination process for the position of Speaker and invited the members of the temporary legal committee to supervise the electoral process, oversee the counting of votes, and establish the electoral procedures.[7]
Ahmed al-Omar, Wissam Zaghloul, and Bishr Hawi were appointed to a temporary legal committee tasked with overseeing the electoral process for the selection of the assembly’s leadership, while Abdul Hamid al-Awak, Mouayad Ghazlan al-Qablawi, and Mohammad Ramez Koraj submitted their candidacies for the position of Speaker of the People’s Assembly.[8][6] The members of the People’s Assembly elected al-Awak as Speaker of the People’s Assembly of Syria on 12 July 2026 during the assembly’s inaugural session, with 99 votes out of 205 ballots cast in a secret ballot.[9][10][11]
Notes
References
- ↑ "Syria elects new parliament Speaker". Shafaq News | Latest breaking news in Iraq and the world. Retrieved 2026-07-15.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "أسامة العساف". الذاكرة السورية (in Arabic). Retrieved 2026-07-15.
- ↑ "سوريا.. انتخاب "عبد الحميد العواك" رئيسا لمجلس الشعب". نيوز رووم (in Arabic). 2026-07-12. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
- ↑ "انطلاق الجلسة الأولى لمجلس الشعب بحضور الرئيس الشرع" (in Arabic). 2026-07-12. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
- ↑ "The Syrian People's Assembly opens its first session with the swearing-in and the election of the Presidential Office". خبرني - ننقل لك أخبار الأردن والعالم بموثوقية وتميّز (in Arabic). Retrieved 2026-07-15.
- 1 2 "Syrian Parliament Holds First Post-Assad Session". Enab Baladi. 2026-07-12. Retrieved 2026-07-15.
- ↑ "Syria's new People's Assembly holds inaugural session". SANA. 2026-07-12. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
- ↑ "Abdul Hamid al-Awak elected Speaker of the Syrian People's Assembly". 2026-07-12. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
- ↑ "Syria's new parliament elects Abdul Hamid al-Awak speaker". Anadolu Agency. 12 July 2026. Retrieved 12 July 2026.
- ↑ "Abdul Hamid al-Awak elected Speaker of the Syrian People's Assembly". SANA. 12 July 2026.
- ↑ "In the presence of al-Sharaa, the first session of the Syrian People's Assembly convened, and Abdul Hamid al-Awak was elected Speaker". dearborn.org. Retrieved 2026-07-13.