The Syrian rebels begin to outline the future of the country two days after definitively overthrowing the regime of Bashar al-Assad after 13 years of war. The person in charge of leading the transition (at least officially) will be Mohamed al Bashir, who was officially named this Tuesday as interim prime minister for three months after the rebels will reach an agreement with the prime minister of the Assad Government.
Sources from the Syrian Political Administration have assured local media that the transfer of powers has been carried out during a session of the Council of Ministers of the Al Assad Government cabinetin a clear message to the international community and the Syrian population itself. Most members of the previous Executive attended this meeting except Al Assad himself, who fled to Moscow several days ago with his family, and the Ministers of the Interior and Defense.
“This assignment was from the General Command. We have been entrusted to run the Syrian Government until March 1, 2025,” Al Bashir said in a televised statement, broadcast by the Saudi television channel Al Arabiya. According to sources, the new Executive will begin to take measures related to security, such as “disband security authorities and repeal terrorism laws.”
Al Bashir was named last January as head of the so-called ‘Salvation Government’, a political branch of the jihadist group that has led the offensive against Assad, Hayat Tahrir al Sham or HTS. The organization led by Abu Mohamed Al Jolani had created this self-proclaimed Government to administer Idlib and other areas of the northwest of the country that the Islamists have controlled in recent years. Al Jolani has also participated in the negotiation with Assad’s prime minister for this transition period and could be power in the shadows during these months until the future of the country is decided in March. A process that raises many doubts because in addition to HTS there are more groups within the so-called rebels that do not share the same ideology as Al Jolani and that could clash during the construction of the country’s future.
This entire process is taking place at the same time that the Israeli Army continues to occupy Syrian territory on the border with Lebanon and bombing part of the south of the country where it claims that there are Assad’s chemical weapons. The Israeli authorities announced this Tuesday that their warships They have destroyed the Syrian fleet as part of a “large-scale” military operation whose goal they claim is to eliminate possible threats from Syria now that the rebels have taken power and could use it against them.
“The Israel Defense Forces are working in Syria over the last few days to damage and destroy strategic capabilities that threaten the State of Israel. The Navy worked tonight to destroy the Syrian fleet and with great success,” said the Minister of Defense. Israeli defense, Israel Katz. At this point, the Israeli leader has issued a threat to Al Assad’s successors, to whom he has warned that Israel “will not allow an extremist Islamic terrorist entity” to act against it or endanger its citizens, thereby that the Israeli authorities “they will do whatever it takes to eliminate that threat”.
(More information soon)