Syrian rebels name transitional prime minister

Ag AFP

DAMASCUS: The rebels who ousted president Bashar al-Assad and are now in power in Syria appointed a transitional head of government on Tuesday to run the country until March 1, a statement said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged all nations to support an “inclusive” political process in Syria, saying the United States would eventually recognise a government if it meets such standards.

“The general command has tasked us with running the transitional government until March 1,” said a statement attributed to Mohammad al-Bashir on state television´s Telegram account, referring to him as “the new Syrian prime minister”.

Assad fled Syria as an Islamist-led rebel alliance swept into the capital Damascus on Sunday, ending five decades of brutal rule by his clan.

Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the Islamist leader who headed the offensive that forced Assad out, had announced talks on a transfer of power and vowed to pursue former senior officials responsible for torture and war crimes.

His group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, is rooted in Syria´s al-Qaeda branch and is proscribed by many Western governments as a terrorist organisation, though it has sought to moderate its rhetoric.

Blinken said 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.

Laying out US priorities, Blinken said the new government must “uphold clear commitments to fully respect the rights of minorities” and allow the flow of humanitarian assistance.

The United States wanted the next government to “prevent Syria from being used as a base for terrorism”, he added. Although they no longer hold any territory in Syria, the jihadists of the Islamic State group remain active.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said IS fighters killed 54 government troops after capturing them as they fled across the vast Syrian Desert.

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... that this is not followed up in practice in the days and the weeks ahead of us,” he added.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned of the risks of sectarian violence and a resurgence of extremism. “We must avoid a repeat of the horrific scenarios in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan,” she said.

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.