The Syrian rebels now in power in Damascus have appointed Mohammed al-Bashir as head of a transitional government that will be in place until March 1, state media said Tuesday.
"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".
The announcement came a day after Syrian rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, now using his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, met with caretaker Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed al-Jalali to discuss the "transfer of power," the rebels stated Monday. The meeting, held just a day after toppling President Bashar al-Assad, was described as a coordination effort to ensure "the provision of services" to Syria's population, according to a statement posted on the rebels' Telegram channels.
A short video of the meeting showed Mohammed al-Bashir in attendance. Bashir, who had been leading the rebels' "Salvation Government" in northwest Syria, had already been widely discussed as the top candidate for prime minister in the transitional post-Assad administration.
UN envoy for Syria
The UN envoy for Syria said the groups that forced Assad to flee must transform their "good messages" into actions on the ground.
"They have been sending messages of unity, of inclusiveness," Geir Pedersen said, adding that in Aleppo and Hama, "we have also seen... reassuring things on the ground".
But "what we need not to see is of course that the good statements and what we are seeing on the ground at the beginning, that this is not followed up in practice in the days and the weeks ahead of us."
The overthrow of Assad, who maintained a complex web of prisons and detention centres to keep Syrians from straying from the Baath party line, sparked celebrations around the country and in the diaspora around the world.
The civil war that led up to it killed 500,000 people and forced half the country to flee their homes, millions of them finding refuge abroad.
The country now faces profound uncertainty after the collapse of a government that had run every aspect of daily life.
Jolani, who now uses his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, vowed: "We will not hesitate to hold accountable the criminals, murderers, security and army officers involved in torturing the Syrian people."
With AFP
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