Jihadist political leader Mohammed al-Bashir has been sworn in as interim prime minister in Syria.
The Syrian Islamist opposition group Hayat Tahrir al-Shams (HTS) and officials from the now-toppled Assad government appointed al-Bashir to form a transitional government, Arab media reported on Monday.
Bashir was appointed after a meeting between Abu Muhammed al-Julani and the former prime minister who led under the Assad regime, Mohammad al-Jalali.
Mohammed al-Bashir controlled a small pocket of rebel-held territory before the 12-day offensive that toppled Assad.
He was born in Idlib in 1986 and has degrees in engineering, law, and management planning.
Al Bashir graduated from the University of Aleppo in 2007 with a degree in electrical engineering and communications. In 2010, he completed an advanced English course organized by the Ministry of Education. In 2021, he received a degree in Sharia and law with honors from the University of Idlib. He then worked as an engineer overseeing the establishment of a natural gas plant affiliated with the Syrian Gas Company.
In 2021, following the uprising in Syria against Bashar al-Assad, al-Bashir left his job in government institutions. Between 2022 and 2023, al-Bashir served as Minister of Development and Humanitarian Affairs, and from January 2024 he became Prime Minister of the Syrian Salvation Government.
Bashir has served as the fifth prime minister of the Syrian Salvation Government (SSG) since January, which has governed the HTS-controlled Idlib province.
HTS was the main group involved in the offensive that led to the eventual fall of the Assad regime. They are the largest group that took control of Damascus on Sunday, and al-Julani has emerged as a key figure among the rebel groups.
In late November, when HTS and other Syrian rebel groups launched an offensive in northwestern Syria, capturing Aleppo, al-Bashir said in a press conference that the offensive was a response to the Syrian regime's attacks on civilians, an attack that had displaced tens of thousands of people.
On December 4, he traveled to Aleppo to oversee the opening of government offices, praising former government officials who had returned to work.
Following the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime, Syria is being asked to form a transitional government to coordinate humanitarian aid, reconstruction, and the country's security policies.