Syria has a Prime Minister, four days after the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad. Mohammad al-Bashir, the new head of government appointed on Tuesday, is committed to respecting all faiths in the country. Syria’s former allies cry conspiracy as rebels attempt to organize transition. At the same time, Israel continues its strikes on Syrian military installations.
No amnesty for those guilty of torturing detainees, says rebel leader
Syria’s rebel leader said on Wednesday that those involved in torturing detainees would not be pardoned, following the release of thousands of prisoners from the Assad clan’s notorious jails. “We will not provide amnesty to those involved in the torture and elimination of detainees and we will prosecute them in our country,” said Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, who now goes by his real name, Ahmad al-Chareh, asking other countries to hand over “all criminals who have fled so that they can be brought to justice”.
Blinken to travel to Jordan, Turkey for crisis talks on Syria
The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken will travel to Jordan on Wednesday, then to Turkey, for talks on Syria after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, the State Department announced. During talks to be held Thursday in Aqaba, on the Red Sea, and a day later in Ankara, the Turkish capital, Antony Blinken “will reiterate US support for an inclusive, Syrian-led transition to a government responsible and representative,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.
The new Prime Minister commits to respecting all faiths
The newly appointed Prime Minister in charge of the transition in Syria, Mohammad al-Bashir, assured Wednesday that the coalition led by Islamists, which ousted Bashar al-Assad from power, will “guarantee” the rights of all faiths, and called on the millions of exiled Syrians to return home. Recognizing “the erroneous behavior of certain Islamist groups”, Mohammad al-Bashir, in an interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, on the fact that “the meaning of Islam (…) has been distorted”. “It is precisely because we are Islamic that we will guarantee the rights of all peoples and all faiths in Syria,” he stressed, the day after his appointment, to lead the transitional government until the 1st March.
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