HTS appoints Mohammed Al Bashir to form new Syrian government

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A former minister in the Hayat Tahrir Al Sham-linked opposition forces has been given the task of forming a transitional government in Damascus after the fall of Bashar Al Assad, The National can disclose.

Mohammed Al Bashir, formerly head of the HTS-linked Salvation Government, which opposed Mr Al Assad, has the responsibility of guiding Syria towards new leadership and eventually holding elections in the country’s biggest political shake-up in more than 50 years, two opposition officials confirmed to The National on Monday.

Mr Al Bashir, also an engineer, was born in Idlib province in 1983 and studied electrical engineering at Aleppo University, according to a biography published by the Salvation Government.

It is not yet known whether his appointment was approved by HTS and opponents to Mr Al Assad in the Turkey-backed Syrian Interim Government, which controlled areas of rebel-held territory in northern Aleppo province before the rebels swept across Syria and took the capital Damascus on Sunday, toppling the Assad regime.