HTS leader takes Syria helm as Israel strikes, moves into buffer
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The news: Mohamed al-Bashir, the head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s de facto government in Idlib, was appointed Syria's interim prime minister after HTS-led rebels ousted President Bashar al-Assad.
The context: Bashir, an electrical engineer and sharia law graduate, will lead a caretaker government until 1 March 2025, as life in Damascus cautiously returns to normalcy.
The arrangement was put in place after the Assad government fell over the weekend and he fled to Russia, marking the end of 54 years of his family’s iron-fist rule.
Banks, shops and services started to reopen, while HTS pledged accountability for past crimes, offered amnesty to conscripts and reopened prisons.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces continued striking military targets, destroying Syria’s navy and other assets, according to Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz.
Israeli ground forces also crossed from the occupied Golan Heights into a previously demilitarised buffer zone over 200 square kilometres inside Syria, seizing abandoned army positions following Assad's ousting.
While Israel occupied most of the Golan Heights during the 1967 Six-Day War, its claim remains unrecognised internationally.
Katz said he had ordered a “sterile defensive zone” to be created in southern Syria to protect his country from terrorism.
Earlier on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Golan Heights was essential for Israel's security and sovereignty, adding “The Golan Heights will be an inseparable part of the state of Israel forever.”
Israel’s actions drew condemnation from Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, while the UN envoy to Syria urged restraint.
There were also reports that Russia moved part of its Mediterranean fleet from the Tartous naval base on Syria's coast to an offshore position for security reasons.
What they said: “Control on the Golan Heights ensures our security; it ensures our sovereignty,” Netanyahu said. “The Golan Heights will be an inseparable part of the state of Israel forever.”
Geir Pedersen, UN envoy to Syria said: “The reality is so far that HTS and also the other armed groups have been sending good messages to the Syrian people ... of unity, of inclusiveness.”
“We need to see a stop to the Israeli attacks. It’s extremely important that we don’t see any action from any international actor that destroys the possibility for this transformation in Syria to take place.”
The sources: The Associated Press, Reuters, The Financial Times
