Mohammed al-Bashir has been appointed as the interim prime minister of Syria following the ousting of Bashar al-Assad. This decision was made after a meeting on Monday between Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the leader of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), and the outgoing Prime Minister Mohammed Jalali along with Vice President Faisal Mekdad to discuss the formation of a transitional government.

Bashir stated on Tuesday, as reported by state media, that “the general command has tasked us with running the transitional government until 1 March.” HTS was instrumental in the rapid 12-day offensive that led to the fall of the Assad regime, which had been in power for over sixty years.

Since January 2024, Bashir has served as the head of the Syrian Salvation Government, an administration controlled by HTS in the Idlib region. An engineer by profession, he was born in the Jabal Zawiya area of Idlib in the mid-1980s.

His curriculum vitae, released by the Salvation Government, indicates that he studied electrical engineering at the University of Aleppo. Additionally, he holds qualifications in English, administrative planning, project management, and a degree in Sharia and law from the University of Idlib.

Prior to his role in the opposition administration, Bashir was the head of the precision instruments department at the Syrian Gas Company.

He departed from that position in 2021 and subsequently aligned himself with “the ranks of the revolutionaries” in Idlib, as indicated in his CV. He held the role of minister of development and humanitarian affairs for the Salvation Government from 2022 to 2023.

In January, Bashir was elected as the prime minister by the Shura Council of the Idlib administration.

Bashir’s campaign focused on modernizing the government through technological advancements, enhancing the economy, and addressing the humanitarian needs of displaced individuals in Idlib, as reported by Levant24, a Syrian news outlet, in January.

Since the onset of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Idlib has been governed by various opposition factions opposing the Damascus regime. In 2017, HTS solidified its dominance over the region.

The Salvation Government is viewed as a technocratic body, with certain governance aspects, such as health and education, assigned to local entities and international aid organizations, while it maintains control over security and economic matters.

However, under HTS’s administration in Idlib, freedom of expression has been severely restricted, with violence and arbitrary detentions employed to suppress dissenting opinions.