DAMASCUS: The main rebel commander Abu Mohammed al-Golani met overnight with Assad’s PM Mohammed Jalali and vice-president Faisal Mekdad to discuss arrangements for a transitional govt, a source said. Jalali told Al Arabiya TV later on Monday that he had agreed to hand over power to the rebel “Salvation Govt“.
Golani, now using his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, met Jalali “to coordinate a transfer of power that guarantees the provision of services” to Syria’s people, said a statement on the rebels’ Telegram channels.
A short video of the meeting showed it was also attended by Mohammed al-Bashir, who heads the rebels’ “Salvation Govt” in their northwest Syria bastion. In the video, Golani was heard telling the outgoing PM that although “Idlib is a small region lacking resources”, authorities there “have a very high-level of experience after starting with nothing”.
Bashir’s name has been circulating as the most likely candidate for PM in the transitional administration. Bashir ran the administration in a small pocket of rebel-held territory before the lightning offensive that swept into Damascus.
According to a profile on the Salvation Govt’s Facebook page, Bashir was born in Idlib province in 1983. He previously served as director of sharia education in Salvation Govt’s ministry of religious endowments, and held a senior role in the ministry of development and humanitarian affairs. He obtained a degree in electrical engineering from Aleppo University in 2007, and another in sharia and law from Idlib University in 2021. The Salvation Govt, which has ministries, judicial and security authorities, was set up in 2017 to help people cut off from govt services in the stronghold.
