Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has in six months established himself internationally and had crippling sanctions removed, but still needs to rebuild national institutions, revive the economy and unite the fractured country.

AFP looks at the main challenges facing Sharaa, whose Islamist-led coalition toppled longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad on December 8.

- State building -

After ousting Assad, Sharaa has had to navigate four political entities, each with their own civil, economic, judicial and military organisation: the central government in Damascus, the incumbent president's former rebel authority in the northwest, Turkey-backed groups in the north, and a Kurdish-led autonomous administration in the northeast.

Radwan Ziadeh, executive director of the Washington-based Syrian Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said that creating relative stability in this fragile context was "a significant accomplishment" for Sharaa.

But guaranteeing the success of the five-year transitional phase will be "the most difficult challenge", Ziadeh said.

The new authorities' ability to maintain stability was cast into doubt when deadly sectarian clashes hit the Syrian coast in March and the Damascus area the following........

© Al Monitor