Dressed in a modest gray suit and tie with a lightweight blue shirt, bald and bearded, 41-12 months-old Mohammed al-Bashir turned to his Syrians on Tuesday from behind his desk in an empty conference room. Asking for “stability and peace”, he announced that he will be the head of the transitional government until March 1.
Less than two weeks ago, each such address can be provided by Bashar Al-Assad, a brutal dictator who supervised the killing of a whole lot of 1000’s of Syria residents and displacement of over 11 million.
But the Assad regime and 54 years of single-family rule collapsed after the 11-day rebel offensive. He and his wife Asma They were smuggled Damascus by Russian intelligence officers who flew them to Moscow.
Bashir talked to his compatriots full of hope, but in addition not vital what may occur. I will thank for his position of the Islamist fraction Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), which conducted the Coalition of Rebellia, which overturned Assad. From the starting of 2024, Bashir was the political head of the Syrian government of salvation (SSG), the administration of the opposition area run by HTS in northwestern Syria.
Supported by Turkey, HTS and SSG ensured the management and measure of stability in the part of the Idlib and Aleppo provinces since November 2017, but they were also accused by Human rights groups abuse of power and discrimination of religious and ethnic minorities. Despite the breaking from Al-Qaeda in 2016, HTS is also designated as “terrorist” by the UN, USA, Great Britain and a few European countries.
In an interview with Italy Corriere della cheese In the newspaper on December 11, Bashir was asked about the HTS past. He replied: “The necessary actions of some Islamist groups led many people, especially in the West, to associate Muslims with terrorism and Islam with extremism. There were errors and misunderstandings that distorted the true importance of Islam, which is a “religion of justice.” Precisely because we are Islamic, we guarantee the rights of all people and all communities in Syria. “
Mohammed to Rifa Muhammad to Rifai / EPA
Aiming towards stability
Born in the Idlib Province, Bashir graduated from electric engineering at the University of Aleppo in 2007. He worked at the Syrian gas company, and after the start of the Syrian Uprising in March 2011, he was the director of the institution ensuring education for youngsters to children affected by conflict. In 2021 he obtained a second degree of Sharia and law at the University of Idlib.
The Prime Minister is an indispensable technocratic contrast with the HTS Ahmed Al-Sharaa leader, before Abu Mohammed Al-Golani. It was the latter who drew all international attention and questions after the fall of Assad.
IN Interview with Sky News After displacing the previous government, Al-Sharaa turned to other countries: “Their fears are unnecessary, a willing God. Fear comes from the presence of the regime (Assad). The country is heading towards development and reconstruction. He goes towards stability. ”
Bashir is the face of this stability. When the rebels moved south of Idlib and Aleppo to free Hama City at the starting of this month, not only the “new dawn of freedom and dignity”, but promised: “We promise you in the government of salvation that we are involved in meeting your expectations, rebuilding your city to return them to the leading civilized status … It is a day of joy and pride, but it is also a day of work and work and responsibility.”
This seek for responsibility and ID is far more than the prime minister. Shortly after his Tuesday, Bashir reported a gathering with members of the Old Government and a few administration directors in Idlib and the surrounding area “to facilitate all necessary work for the next two months.”
Technocrats are already developing administration plans by reviewing the regime’s bureaucracy. Mohammad Yasser Ghazal, delegated from Idlib to managing the city of Damascus, he said: “Everything will become one. All government bodies will be resolved: without the government of salvation, no faction, nothing. Everything was all in one Syrian republic. “
In the face of the legacy of the regime in the field of corruption, buddies and centralized power, new officials asked the heads of departments to say their messages and explain the function of their department. They I met the staff Quoting government textbooks from the Nineteen Thirties and Sixties, while not answering direct questions on their duties or decision making.
Fast movements in the early days
There are early days, but up to now a fast transition to the rebels, and now government governments have been largely peaceful together with the continuation of services and on a regular basis business. Rebels issued an announcement Promotion of respect for all minorities. And in the face of plunder possibilities, they warned against any destruction of public or private property and imposed a police night.
The tools have been maintained. In Aleppo City, one of the first acts was to put in new cells of mobile phones. The economic system has been secured and the airports will soon be opened again. Remuneration, which amounted to a mean of around $ 25 ($ 19.80) per 30 days as part of the regime, will be increased According to SSG remuneration, as much as around $ 100 per 30 days.
A complete amnesty was declared for army soldiers, police and protection staff, provided that they submitted documents regarding official patchy and identification cards. Hundreds The men lined up in the queue In hours after the Aleppo trial.
Friends / EPA
Individual acts of revenge were reported in relation to some data related to the regime. One of the performed was Jalal al-Daqqaq, who was involved in Killing over 200 detainees in SyriaApparently, feeding the throats for pets.
However, there was a general compliance with the rebel order to avoid violence. Posts on X suggest that sources from minority sects, including Druze, Ismailiis and Alawites (whose members include Assads), confirm That all revenge operations weren’t ethnically motivated.
The new government is aware that maintaining security and services is a great politics. Because the Assad regime leaves the basketball economy, in addition to mutilated society, international help will be useful.
To be obtained, HTS will must be faraway from the UN, the USA and European Black. Ghazal sums up that technocrat plans “require political recognition (and addressing) a terrorist designation, which, I think, soon.”
But good politics will also must persuade abnormal Syrians who lived under the regime. In the store selling freshly printed Syrian revolutionary flags in Damascus, the seller of Fadi Al-Myly was asked by Washington Post to discover the new prime minister. He couldn’t. But whoever he is: “We don’t want him” The butterfly said. “We want choices.”