telegramThe prime minister of Syria’s new transitional government said it was time for people to “enjoy stability and calm” after the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad.
Mohammed al-Bashir, the former leader of the rebel government in the northwest, spoke to Al Jazeera after being tasked by Islamist militant group Hayat Tahir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies to govern him. valid until March 2025.
Bashir chaired a meeting in Damascus on Tuesday attended by members of his new government and those of Assad’s former cabinet to discuss the transfer of portfolios and institutions .
The statement came as the United Nations special envoy for Syria said the rebels must turn their “good messages” into practice on the ground.
Meanwhile, the US Secretary of State said Washington will recognize and fully support the Syrian government in the future as long as this government emerges from an inclusive, credible process that respects minorities.
In 2011, Assad brutally crushed a peaceful pro-democracy uprising, sparking a brutal civil war that left more than half a million people dead and another 12 million forced to flee their homes.
Before this week, Mohammed al-Bashir was little known outside HTS-dominated areas in the northwestern provinces of Idlib and Aleppo.
According to his CV, he trained as an electrical engineer and worked at gas plants before the start of the civil war in 2011.
In January, Bashir was appointed prime minister of the Salvation Government (SG), which HTS established to administer the territory under its control.
SG operates as a state, with ministries, local branches, judiciary and security agencies, and maintains a religious council guided by Islamic law.
About four million people, many of them displaced elsewhere in the country, live under its rule.
When organizations ceased operations in Aleppo after HTS and its allies captured the city earlier this month at the start of the blitz, the SG stepped in to restore public services.
Technicians are said to have helped repair local electricity and telecommunications networks, security forces patrolled the streets, doctors volunteered to work at hospitals and charities distributed bread .
“It is true that Idlib is a small region lacking resources, but they [SG officials] has a very high level of experience after starting from scratch,” HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is heard telling former Assad prime minister Mohammed al-Jalali in a video of a meeting in Damascus on Thursday. Two.
“We will benefit from your experience,” he added. We will definitely not ignore you.”
On Tuesday, Bashir was photographed chairing a meeting of former SG ministers and ministers who served under Jalali. He sat in front of the Syrian opposition and HTS flags.
“[We] invited members from the former government and several administration directors in Idlib and surrounding areas to facilitate all the necessary work over the next two months until we have a system in place. constitutional system can serve the Syrian people,” Bashir told Al. Jazeera later.
“We have had other meetings to restart institutions to be able to serve our people in Syria,” he added.
Also on Tuesday, rebel commander Hasan Abdul Ghani announced that his forces had taken control of the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zour. It was previously captured by Syrian Kurdish troops on Friday.
Meanwhile, life seems to be gradually returning to normal in the capital Damascus after two days of near shutdown.
There were a lot of pedestrians and cars on the streets, and some shops and restaurants were still open.
Residents were also cleaning up spent shell casings scattered on the ground around the central Umayyad Square, where scores of rebel fighters fired into the air as crowds celebrated the end of Assad’s 24-year rule.
A Muslim cleric there told the BBC that Syrians were looking to the future and wanted a peaceful and united country.
“We want to establish a nation built on the principles of nationalism, justice and the rule of law, a technocratic state where institutions are respected and Equal opportunity is guaranteed to all”.
UN special envoy Geir Pedersen told reporters in Geneva that the transition was needed to ensure “the broadest possible representation of Syrian society and Syrian parties”.
“If this does not happen then we risk a new conflict,” he warned.
Pedersen said the United Nations, US, UK and other countries listing HTS as a terrorist organization will be a “complicating factor” in efforts to find a way forward.
HTS’s predecessor, al-Nusra Front, pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda in 2013. But three years later, HTS officially severed ties with the jihadist group.
“The reality so far is that HTS and other armed groups have sent good messages to the Syrian people… of solidarity, of inclusiveness,” Pedersen noted.
“We have also seen… reassuring things on the ground” in Aleppo and Hama, another major city captured last week, he added.
He said the most important test will be how the transitional arrangements in Damascus are organized and implemented.
“If they truly include all the different groups and all the communities in Syria… then there will be a possibility for a new beginning.”
“And then I believe the international community will look [terrorist] re-list HTS,” he added.
After that, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in fact set out a series of conditions that, if met, would help Syria enjoy full recognition by Washington.
He said: “It is imperative that all stakeholders protect civilians; respect for human rights, especially for vulnerable minorities; protect state institutions and services to help meet the needs of Syrians and build towards inclusive governance.”
“Rebel leaders’ statements about these goals are welcome, but of course the real measure of their commitment is not just what they say but also what they do.”
