Abdul Hamid al-Awak

Abdul Hamid Akil al-Awak (born 1966) is a Syrian politician, jurist, and academic who has served as Speaker of the People's Assembly of Syria since 12 July 2026. He is the first person to hold the position of Speaker since the fall of the Assad regime and is one of the most prominent figures in the country’s post-Assad government. Career Between 1993 and 1998, al-Awak served as Director of Legal Affairs at the Tigris and Khabur Basin Directorate. He later worked as a judge with the rank of consultant at the Syrian Ministry of Justice for ten years between 1998 and 2014.

Al-Awak left Syria in 2014 after being summoned by the Ba'athist regime's State Security apparatus due to his support for the Syrian revolution. Following his departure from Syria, al-Awak became a prominent legal and academic voice within the Syrian opposition. Al-Awak moved to the southeastern Turkish city of Mardin.

He has also worked in academia, serving as an assistant professor at Mardin Artuklu University since 2016 and as a lecturer at the Faculty of Law at Al-Furat University.

Early public roles Al-Awak was appointed to the Syrian Constitutional Committee as a representative of the Syrian Negotiation Commission and withdrew from the committee in 2018, citing the lack of meaningful progress in the political process. After returning to Syria following the fall of the Assad regime, al-Awak took charge of the Faculty of Law at the University of Aleppo in a temporary capacity. In that capacity as a member of the committee, al-Awak oversaw the preparation of the legal principles governing the transitional period, including provisions on public freedoms and the separation of powers. On 13 March, al-Sharaa ratified the constitutional declaration, which would remain in effect for five years.

On 1 July 2026, he was appointed as a member of the People's Assembly by al-Sharaa.

Speaker of the People's Assembly of Syria

Nomination On 30 June 2026, The New Arab reported that al-Awak was considered the Speaker of the People's Assembly, although this had yet to be confirmed at the time.

The People’s Assembly’s first session was originally scheduled for 6 July but was delayed until 12 July, when it was held as the first legislature to convene since the fall of the Assad regime. The session was chaired by Osama al-Assaf until the selection process concluded, during which he opened the nomination process for the position of Speaker, and al-Awak, Mouayad Ghazlan al-Qablawi, and Mohammad Ramez Koraj submitted their candidacies.

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 following the regime change, with 99 votes out of 205 ballots cast in a secret ballot. He defeated Mouayad Ghazlan al-Qablawi, who received 75 votes, and Mohammad Ramez Koraj, who secured 31 votes. One blank ballot was declared invalid, according to Anadolu Agency.

Al-Awak was the first person to hold the position of Speaker of the People's Assembly since the fall of the Assad regime. He said that the Assembly would cooperate with the executive authority, led by the President of Syria.

During United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres's visit to Syria on 25 July, al-Awak met with the Secretary-General at Tishreen Palace. On 26 July, the People's Assembly convened for its second session. The committee, which was established by a decision of al-Awak, prepared the initial draft, which underwent a legal review before being submitted to lawmakers for debate and a vote during the session. He added that the President of Syria would have executive authority during the transitional period but would have only one "exceptional power", which was the right to declare a state of emergency. He said that after the Constitutional Declaration, a set of laws would be enacted to prosecute criminals and regulate state institutions under the leadership of the Ministry of Justice. He also stressed the need to reform the Ministry of Justice and restore its proper functioning so that it could once again serve citizens after the fall of the Assad regime.