Mohamed al-Bashir has been named caretaker prime minister of Syria's transitional government until March 1, 2025, he said in a televised statement on Tuesday.
Al-Bashir ran the rebel-led Freedom Government before opposition fighters launched a 12-day lightning offensive, which swept into Damascus and toppled the Syrian regime.
The post was announced after the Israeli military pounded Syrian military bases on Tuesday with airstrikes as its troops advanced deeper into Syria.
Syrian security sources said the attack reached Israel about 25 kilometers southwest of Damascus, after Israel seized a buffer zone in southern Syria and launched airstrikes on Syrian military and air bases. overnight.
Israel denied that its forces had moved into Syria beyond a buffer zone at the border, saying its aim was to keep weapons from falling into hostile hands.
A Syrian security source said that Israeli troops reached Qatana, which is 10 kilometers into the Syrian border east of the demilitarized zone that separates the Golan Heights from Syria.
Israel's military operation into Syria comes two days after President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown on a rebel alliance has left Syrians, regional countries and world powers nervous about what lies ahead. .
Lt.-Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, said troops were still in the buffer zone and “a few additional points” nearby but denied that there had been a major push into Syria from outside the separation region.
“IDF forces are not advancing on Damascus. This is not something we are doing or pursuing in any way,” he told a briefing with reporters.
Israel has said that it will not get involved in the conflict in Syria and that the seizure of the buffer zone was a defensive move.
Airstrikes wipe out Syrian military assets, sources say
Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have condemned the attack. Saudi Arabia said the move would “destroy Syria's chances of restoring security.” “
Regional security sources and officials within the now-defunct Syrian army said heavy Israeli air strikes against military bases and air bases across Syria continued overnight, destroying dozens of helicopters and jets, as well as Republican Guard assets in and around Damascus.
The number of 200 raids had left nothing of the Syrian army's assets, they said.
Israel said its airstrikes would continue for days but told the UN Security Council it was not getting involved in the Syrian conflict. They said they took “limited and temporary measures” only to protect his security.
With the fall of Bashar al-Assad's government, Syrians searched for those who went missing under his regime – especially in the country's notorious Sednaya prison. Meanwhile, the world was waiting to see what a new government might mean for the future.
The United Nations Security Council met behind closed doors late Monday, and diplomats said they were still in shock at how quickly Assad's ouster appeared, after a 13-year civil war that had been locked in a stalemate for years.
“Everybody, everybody, including the council members, was taken by surprise. So we'll have to wait and see…
The mood in Damascus is still celebrating
Russia played a major role in supporting the Assad government and helping it fight against the rebels. The Syrian leader fled Damascus for Moscow on Sunday, ending more than 50 years of brutal rule by his family.
With the mood in Damascus still high, Assad's Prime Minister, Mohammed Ghazi al-Jalali, agreed on Monday to hand over power to the rebel-led Salvation Government, an administration based in a rebel-held area there. northwestern Syria.
Top rebel commander Ahmed al-Sharaa, better known as Abu Mohammed Al-Golani, met with Jalali and Vice President Faisal Mekdad to discuss the transitional government, a source familiar with the talks told Reuters. Jalali said the transfer could take days.
Al Jazeera television said the transition authority would be headed by Mohamed al-Bashir, who heads the Salvation Army.
The rise of the militia alliance led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al-Qaeda affiliate, was a turning point for a generation in the Middle East.
The civil war that began in 2011 killed hundreds of thousands, caused one of the biggest refugee crises in modern times and left cities bombed to rubble, the countryside down and the economy crippled by global sanctions.
But the rebel alliance has not articulated plans for Syria's future, and there is no template for such a move in the fragile region.
