DAMASCUS, March 29, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Friday appointed Osama al-Rifai, a moderate Muslim cleric known for having opposed now ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad, as the country's grand mufti.

"Today, this position is held by one of the finest scholars" in Syria, Sharaa said in a statement.

Rifai, a Damascene born in 1944, publicly expressed opposition to Assad after anti-government protests broke out in 2011.

He was beaten after giving a Friday sermon that year when government forces stormed his mosque, beating and arresting people, and he left the country not long after the incident.

Rifai served as head of an Islamic council set up in Istanbul in 2014 for Syrians opposed to Assad, returning to Damascus to a warm public welcome after Sharaa's Islamist-led rebels ousted the longtime ruler in December.

In 2021, Assad had issued a decree eliminating the post of grand mufti and expanding the powers of a government ministry overseeing religious affairs.

That decree effectively forced Ahmed Badreddin Hassoun, whom Assad had appointed in 2004, into retirement.

This week, unofficial reports said the former grand mufti, known for his support of Assad, was arrested at the airport as he sought to leave the country.

Authorities have not made a public announcement on the matter, but family members on social media have confirmed that Hassoun was detained.