Syria has ousted one tyrant and now hopes not to see another arrive. Mohamed al Bashir is called the person in charge of leading the transition in the country after the fall of the Bashar al Assad regime. Since this Tuesday, Al Bashir is the interim prime minister.
It will be at least for the next three months, until March 1. He was until now prime minister of the so-called National Salvation Government of Syria in the province of Idlib. Al Bashir has the enormous challenge of ensuring that the fall of the dictator is followed by a more or less democratic regime, which can have the support of the diverse Syrian society, made up of, among others, Christians, Kurds, Druze, Sunnis and Alawitesand in the process please foreign governments.
Al Bashir was born in 1983 in the Syrian region of Mount Zawiya, in Idlib. In 2007 he graduated in electrical engineering by the University of Aleppo. Four years later he was one of those responsible for a gas plant of the Syrian Gas Company. In 2021 He graduated in Sharia and Law by the University of Idlib.
It was that year when he made the leap into politics: he left the gas company and He joined the revolutionary ranks that were trying to overthrow Al Assad. He held various minor positions within the Salvation Government, which in these years of civil war in Syria has supervised the ministries, judicial systems and security authorities of the enclaves controlled by the rebels. .
For example, Al Bashir was director of the Al Amal Institute, which educates children affected by the prolonged Syrian civil war. In 2022 he was appointed Minister of Development and Humanitarian Affairs within the government of Ali Keda, a position he held until 2023.
In January 2024, he was elected Prime Minister of the Salvation Government. Al Bashir lowered real estate rates in Idlib (population 374,000) and relaxed planning regulations. The region has been one of the hardest hit by the war. Of its almost three million people, half are internally displaced.
Close to HTS but more moderate than Al Golani
During this year, groups of protesters took to the streets from some cities in Idlib to protest against the Salvation Government and against Abu Mohamed Al Golani himself, leader of Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS – Organization for the Liberation of the Levant). They demanded economic reforms, the end of human rights violations in prisons and the monopoly of that former affiliate of Al Qaeda in Syria in decision-making. Al Golani’s men responded with batons and tear gas.
A report from the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria last September claimed that the protests followed campaigns of arrest and torture against members of the HTS, including groups, political parties and civilians opposed to the groupincluding women and children up to 7 years old.
Meanwhile, in an attempt to please the population, Al Bashir granted amnesty to perpetrators of crimes who showed good behavior. The new provisional prime minister of Syria has shown management capacity and closeness to the HTS in recent years, but with more moderate positions than those of Al Golani. Is it not then going to be a Salafist Islamic State governed by Sharia? The rebels say no, but it remains to be seen.
At the end of this year, Al Bashir was on the offensive against Al Assad executed by a coalition formed, among others, by the Al Golani group and factions supported by Türkiye. In his first public appearance outside Idlib, he was seen alongside the leader of the HTS. At a news conference, he said the offensive was launched in response to attacks on civilians by government and allied troops.
#Mohamed #Bashir #engineer #Sharia #graduate #bring #factions #Syria #agreement
