Al Bashir named head of Syrian transitional govt

The Syrian fighters now in power in Damascus appointed Mohammad al Bashir as head of a transitional government that will be in place until March 1, state media said on Tuesday. On Sunday, Syrians led by the group Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) seized the capital Damascus in a lightning offensive, toppling president Bashar al Assad who fled the country. “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”.

Before being tapped for the role, he had been head of the rebels’ so-called Salvation Government in northwest Syria and previously held the role of its development minister. Also on Tuesday, a source within the political affairs department of the Salvation Government said 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 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.

The armed groups must transform their “good messages” to Syrians into actions on the ground, the UN envoy for Syria said on Tuesday. After more than 13 years of civil war, Assad’s downfall came in a lightning offensive led by Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) and its chief Abu Mohammed al Jolani. “The reality so far is that the HTS and also the other armed groups have been sending good messages to the Syrian people,” he said. “They have been sending messages of unity, of inclusiveness,” he said, adding that in Aleppo and Hama, “we have also seen... reassuring things on the ground”.

Pedersen, the UN envoy for Syria since 2018, said “the most important test will be how the transitional arrangements in Damascus is organised and implemented”. “If they are really inclusive of all the different groups and all the communities in Syria,... then there is a possibility for a new beginning.” “And then I do believe that the international community will look at the (terrorist) listing of HTS again,” the Norwegian diplomat said.

Since the opposition campaign began sweeping through Syria in late November, more than one million people have been displaced, the UN humanitarian agency said on Tuesday, adding though that some had begun returning home. “Humanitarian needs are growing,” spokesman Jens Laerke told reporters, warning that a $4 billion UN appeal for Syria aid this year was less than a third funded.

Just days after Assad’s fall, Pedersen said that “things have not settled. There is a real opportunity for change, but this opportunity needs to be grasped by the Syrians themselves and supported by the UN and the international community.” — AFP