Who is Mohammad Al-Bashir, appointed interim prime minister by Syrian rebels

Mohammad Al-Bashir was appointed interim Prime Minister of Syria by the rebels who overthrew the regime of Bashar al-Assad. He will perform the role for three months, until March 1, 2025, according to an announcement this Tuesday (10).

He previously served as prime minister of the Salvation Government, which is linked to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the main rebel force, in Idlib.

During the speech, Al-Bashir reported that there was a cabinet session with members of the Salvation Government and the Bashar al-Assad regime, focusing on the “transfer of institutions”.

Who is Mohammad Al-Bashir?

Mohammad Al-Bashir was born in 1983 in the province of Idlib, Syria, according to his biography on the Salvation Government website.

He graduated in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Aleppo, the country’s second largest city, in 2007.

Al-Bashir also holds certifications in English and Sharia Law.

Syria’s new interim prime minister was also director of the Al Amal Educational Institute and director of Sharia Education at the Ministry of Endowments, Da’wah and Guidance, according to the Salvation Government’s biography.

In 2022 and 2023, he served as Minister of Development for the Salvation Government. Previously, he also worked at the Ministry of Development and Humanitarian Affairs.

In 2024, Bashir became Prime Minister of the Salvation Government in Idlib.

Other points in Al-Bashir’s biography are:

• Head of precision instrumentation department at Syria Gas Company gas plant in 2011
• Project management certificate issued by the International Academy of Training, Languages ​​and Consulting in 2021
• Certificate in the principles of planning and administrative organization in 2021

What is the Salvation Government?

The Salvation Government styles itself as a technocratic government “born from the womb of the revolution through an initiative by academics in the liberated areas in the year 2017”.

A technocracy is a system of political and social organization that has a predominance of technicians.

According to the organization, the initiative resulted in a conference with activists and groups present inside and outside the “liberated areas” of Syria — that is, those that were no longer dominated by the Bashar al-Assad regime.

Then, a “constituent body composed of the revolutionary social and academic elites present in the liberated areas” was created.

Understand the conflict in Syria

The Assad family regime was overthrown in Syria on December 8, after 50 years in power, when rebel groups took over the capital Damascus.

President Bashar al-Assad has fled the country and is in Moscow after gaining asylum, according to a source in Russia.

Syria’s civil war began during the Arab Spring in 2011, when the regime of Bashar al-Assad suppressed a pro-democracy uprising.

The country was plunged into full-scale conflict when a rebel force was formed, known as the Free Syrian Army, to fight government troops.

Furthermore, the Islamic State, a terrorist group, also managed to gain a foothold in the country and came to control 70% of Syrian territory.

Fighting escalated as other regional actors and world powers — from Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United States to Russia — joined in, escalating the country’s war into what some observers described as a “proxy war.”

Russia has allied with Bashar al-Assad’s government to combat the Islamic State and rebels, while the United States has led an international coalition to repel the terrorist group.

After a ceasefire agreement in 2020, the conflict remained largely “dormant”, with minor clashes between the rebels and the Assad regime.

More than 300,000 civilians have been killed in more than a decade of war, according to the UN, and millions of people have been displaced across the region.

This content was originally published in Who is Mohammad Al-Bashir, appointed interim prime minister by Syrian rebels on the CNN Brasil website.

Source: CNN Brasil