Watch: Who is Mohammad al-Bashir, Syria’s caretaker Prime Minister?

After 13 years of brutal war, Syria’s divided and devastated nation faces a new chapter. Mohammad Al-Bashir, an engineering graduate turned rebel leader, steps into the spotlight as caretaker Prime Minister. But can he unite a fractured country and navigate the immense challenges of rebuilding Syria? Let’s dive into the story of this pivotal leader.

Born in 1983 in Jabal al-Zawiya, Idlib Province, Mohammad Al-Bashir has a background that’s as layered as Syria’s ongoing conflict. A graduate of Aleppo University in electrical and electronic engineering, he also studied Islamic and civil law at Idlib University. Before the war, he worked for Syria’s state gas company—a career path far removed from his current reality.

Al-Bashir became the head of Idlib’s rebel administration—known as the “Salvation Government”—in January 2024. This government, established in 2017, operates ministries, departments, judicial, and security systems for a population of over five million. It was a lifeline for people in rebel-held areas cut off from national services. But running a local government is a far cry from leading a war-torn nation.

The dynamics shifted dramatically after the rebel coalition’s lightning offensive on November 27. In a matter of days, they captured key territories, including Aleppo and Damascus, effectively toppling Bashar al-Assad’s decades-long dynasty. Al-Bashir’s new role as caretaker Prime Minister now places him in the traditional seat of power: Damascus.

In his first public appearance outside Idlib, Al-Bashir, wearing a grey suit and gold watch, sat beside rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani. While Jolani praised Idlib’s governance as “highly experienced,” he acknowledged the monumental task ahead: managing a divided country, poverty, and competing factions vying for control of former government strongholds.

Radwan Ziadeh, a senior fellow at the Arab Center Washington DC, called Al-Bashir “the closest” to the rebels’ joint operations room. But he stressed that Syria’s transitional process must involve all Syrians to ensure a peaceful shift to democracy. Al-Bashir’s success will depend on unity, inclusivity, and addressing the basic needs of a war-torn population.

As Mohammad Al-Bashir steps into national leadership, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Rebuilding Syria requires more than political maneuvering—it demands a collective effort to heal a nation torn apart. Will he rise to the challenge? Only time will tell.

Damascus:

As Syria’s new transitional Prime Minister Mohammad al-Bashir took charge and called for “stability and calm” in the country, Israel carried out over 350 airstrikes targeting weapons stockpiles and strategic infrastructure in the Middle Eastern country over the past 48 hours. The Hayat Tahrir al-Shams (HTS) led rebels, who toppled President Bashar al-Assad three days ago, appointed Mohammad al-Bashir as the transitional head of government to run the country until March 1. 

Mr al-Bashir, a figure little known across most of Syria ran the rebel-led Salvation Government in a pocket of the northwest controlled by rebels before their 12-day lightning offensive swept into Damascus.

In his first interview since being appointed, Mr Bashir told Qatar’s Al Jazeera television, “Now it is time for this people to enjoy stability and calm.”

Israel Strikes Syria

Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in a statement posted to X, said it has carried out more than 350 airstrikes targeting weapons stockpiles and strategic infrastructure in Syria over the past 48 hours.

The targets included Syrian Navy facilities at Al-Bayda port and Latakia port, Syrian Air Force airfields, dozens of weapons production sites in Damascus, Homs, Tartus, Latakia, and Palmyra, numerous anti-aircraft batteries, drones, aircraft, tanks, scud missiles, cruise missiles, surface-to-sea, surface-to-air, surface-to-surface missiles, UAVs, fighter jets, attack helicopters, radars, hangars, and more.

The IDF said it “conducted air strikes on 130 assets in Syria, including weapons depots, military structures, launchers, and firing positions.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that in overnight strikes the Syrian navy fleet was wiped out and Israeli troops were “establishing themselves” at the buffer zone between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Turkish Strikes

Meanwhile, the Turkish intelligence agency is also attacking targets in Syria. On Tuesday, Turkish security officials said their intelligence agency attacked a convoy of trucks allegedly carrying missiles, heavy weapons and ammunition that were abandoned by the Syrian government and reportedly seized by Syrian Kurdish militias, according to a report by The Guardian.

As per the report, 12 trucks, two tanks and two ammunition depots were “destroyed” in aerial strikes in the city of Qamishli, near the Turkish border.

US Urges ‘Inclusive’ Process For New Syrian Govt

The outgoing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has urged all nations to support an “inclusive” political process in Syria, saying the United States would eventually recognize a government if it meets such standards. “The Syrian people will decide the future of Syria. All nations should pledge to support an inclusive and transparent process and refrain from external interference,” Mr Blinken said in a statement.

“The United States will recognize and fully support a future Syria government that results from this process,” he added.

The US Secretary of State said that the future government of Syria should be “credible, inclusive and non-sectarian” after Islamist rebels toppled strongman Bashar al-Assad, a member of the Alawite minority who led a secular dictatorship. 

HTS’s Message To The World

HTS commander Ahmed al-Sharaa, aka Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, has urged foreign countries to not fear Syria after Bashar al-Assad’s regime was overthrown. Speaking to American broadcaster Sky News, Jolani, said, “Their (West’s) fears are unnecessary, God willing”.

“The country will be rebuilt,” he said, adding, “The fear was from the presence of the regime. The country is moving towards development and reconstruction. It’s going towards stability.”

He continued: “People are exhausted from war. So the country isn’t ready for another one and it’s not going to get into another one. The source of our fears was from the Iranian militias, Hezbollah and the regime which committed the massacres we are seeing today. So their removal is the solution for Syria. The current situation won’t allow for a return to panic.”

UN To Consider Taking HTS Off Terrorist List

The United Nations said it would consider removing Hayat Tahrir al-Sham from its designated terrorist list if it passes the key test of forming a truly inclusive transitional government, according to a report by The Guardian. 

Quoting Geir Pedersen, UN special envoy for Syria, the report said the UN would consider the proposal if the group could not seek to govern Syria in the way that it had governed Idlib, the northern province where it was based and from where it led the military breakout. 

“We have to be honest and look at the facts. It has been nine years since that resolution was adopted and the reality so far is that HTS and other armed groups have been sending good messages to the Syrian people of unity and inclusiveness. In Hama and Aleppo, there have been reassuring things on the ground…My message is Syria cannot be run like Idlib.” he said.

75 Indians Evacuated From Syria 

India on Tuesday evacuated 75 Indian nationals from Syria, two days after rebel forces overthrew President Bashar Assad’s authoritarian government. The evacuation, coordinated by the embassies of India in Damascus and Beirut, was put into effect following an assessment of the security situation, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

“The Government of India today evacuated 75 Indian nationals from Syria, following recent developments in that country,” it said in a late-night statement.

“The evacuees included 44 ‘zaireen’ from Jammu and Kashmir who were stranded at Saida Zainab. All Indian nationals have safely crossed over to Lebanon and will return by available commercial flights to India,” it said.

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 on December 10, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

As leader of a “Salvation Government” in Syria’s Idlib, Mohammad al-Bashir tried to bring a degree of order to the last major bastion of armed opposition against longtime leader Bashar al-Assad.

Now, the engineering graduate in his early 40s will lead the national government, presiding over a country divided and battered by 13 years of war, and seek to unite it in the traditional seat of power, Damascus.

Syria civil war highlights – December 10, 2024

Bashir was born in 1983 in Jabal al-Zawiya in Idlib province, an area mostly run in recent years by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied factions with less influence.

He studied electrical and electronic engineering at Aleppo university, and Islamic and civil law at Idlib university, according to his biography, and once worked for Syria’s state gas company.

He had served as the head of the rebel administration’s self-styled “Salvation Government” since January, and previously held the role of its “development minister”.

The “Salvation Government”, with its own ministries, departments, judicial and security authorities, was set up in Idlib in 2017 to assist people in the rebel-held area cut off from government services.

It has since begun rolling out assistance in Aleppo, the first major city to fall from government hands after the rebels began a lightning November 27 offensive, capturing swathes of territory and taking the capital on Sunday, toppling Assad.

But managing a rebel region of some five million people is a totally different task from a national leadership role in a country torn by deep divisions and where many people live in poverty.

Beyond the rebels’ own divisions, other groups are also vying for control of former government strongholds.

Syrian rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani told outgoing prime minister Mohammed al-Jalali that although Idlib is small and lacks resources, authorities there “have a very high-level of experience” and had had “great success” on some issues.

However, he noted the new government would also need to draw on experienced people from the outgoing administration.

In his first appearance outside the Idlib region, the bearded Bashir was seen in a video released Monday, sitting next to Jolani, wearing a smart grey suit and a gold watch, during a meeting with the outgoing premier.

Radwan Ziadeh, a senior fellow at the Arab Center Washington DC, said Bashir was “the closest” to Jolani and the rebel factions’ joint operations room.

But “the challenges he faces are very great”, Ziadeh said.

“Just as the revolution was a revolution for all Syrians, the transitional process will be the responsibility of all Syrians in order to ensure it succeeds and guarantees the peaceful transition to democracy,” he said.