The rebels who deposed President Bashar al-Assad and are now in power in Syria have named Mohammed al-Bashir as the country’s interim leader until March 1.
al-Bashir was also key in bringing down al-Assad’s dictatorship.
“The general command has tasked us with running the transitional government until March 1,” said a statement credited to al-Bashir on state television’s Telegram account, referring to him as “the new Syrian prime minister.”.
Assad fled Syria after an Islamist-led rebel alliance rushed into Damascus on Sunday, bringing an end to his clan’s five decades of harsh reign.
Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the Islamist leader who led the offensive that ousted Assad, has launched talks on a power transition and promised to prosecute former senior officials responsible for torture and war crimes.
His outfit, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, is affiliated with Syria’s Al-Qaeda branch and is classified as a terrorist organisation by many Western governments, despite efforts to modify its rhetoric.
Middle Eastern states protest Israel’s reported actions within Syria’s buffer zone.
This charge comes after Israel’s military revealed that its troops are operating in Syrian territory beyond the demilitarised buffer zones between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The Israeli military said it had destroyed Syria’s military fleet and that it would set up a “sterile defensive.” Rebel commanders proclaim prominent officials of Assad’s regime wanted for war crimes.
Earlier, Syria’s chief Islamist opposition leader stated that key Assad regime officials implicated in torturing political captives would be identified and prosecuted for war crimes.
It comes after rebel militants claimed that 40 bodies found in a hospital mortuary bore evidence of torture.
