Mohammad Yasser Ghazal

Mohammad Yasser Ghazal, born in 1988, is a Syrian civil engineer and public official who serves as the president of the Damascus City Council and deputy minister of Local Administration. He briefly acted as governor of Damascus in December 2024 before being replaced by Maher Marwan. Known for his role in the transitional administration following the opposition's capture of Damascus during the Syrian Civil War, Ghazal has been involved in restructuring governance to unify areas under opposition control with the capital.

Ghazal was raised in the United Arab Emirates and worked as a civil engineer in Saudi Arabia until 2014. He moved to Idlib amid the escalating conflict and played a key role in establishing the Syrian Salvation Government in 2018, which operated in HTS-controlled territories.

Upon assuming his role in Damascus after the fall of the Assad regime, Ghazal focused on dismantling corrupt administrative structures and modernizing governance systems. He identified significant inefficiencies and corruption within bureaucratic institutions, including ghost jobs and widespread bribery. To address these issues, he initiated digital transformation efforts, drawing from his experience in Idlib where services were digitized for efficiency.

Despite progress, challenges persist due to the legacy of Assad's centralized rule, economic instability, and the Salvation Government's association with HTS, which complicates international legitimacy efforts.