The Syrian rebels now in power in Damascus appointed Mohammed al-Bashir as head of a transitional government that will be in place until March 1, state media said on Tuesday, December 10.
“The general command has tasked us with running the transitional government until March 1,” said a statement attributed to Bashir on state television’s Telegram account, referring to him as “the new Syrian prime minister.”
On Sunday, the rebels led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) seized the capital Damascus in a lightning offensive, toppling President Bashar al-Assad who fled the country.
Before being tapped for the role, Bashir had been head of the rebels’ so-called Salvation Government in northwest Syria and previously held the role of its development minister.
Also Tuesday, a source within the political affairs department of the Salvation Government told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that Bashir would head the transitional government.
The Salvation Government, with its own ministries, departments, judicial and security authorities, was set up in the Idlib bastion in 2017 to assist people in the rebel-held area people cut off from government services. It has since begun rolling out assistance in Aleppo, the first major city to fall from government hands after the rebels began their offensive.