Syria's new prime minister pledges respect for all faiths

DAMASCUS — Refugees from Syria's long civil war were making their way home on Wednesday, as a new interim prime minister said he had been appointed with the backing of the rebels who toppled President Bashar al-Assad.

U.S. officials, engaging with rebels led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), urged them not to assume automatic leadership of the multi-religious, multi-ethnic country but instead run an inclusive process to form a transitional government. HTS is a former al-Qaeda affiliate that led the anti-Assad revolt and has lately downplayed its jihadist roots.

In a brief address on state television on Tuesday, Mohammed al-Bashir, a figure little known across most of Syria, said he would lead the interim authority until March 1. "Today we held a cabinet meeting that included a team from the Salvation government that was working in Idlib and its vicinity, and the government of the ousted regime," he said.

Behind him were two flags — the green, black and white flag flown by opponents of Assad throughout the civil war, and a white flag with the Islamic oath of faith in black writing, typically flown in Syria by Sunni Islamist fighters.

Bashir ran the rebel-led Salvation Government before the 12-day lightning rebel offensive swept into Damascus. With Assad's overthrow plunging Syria into the unknown, its new rulers have sought to assure members of the country's religious minorities that they will not repress them. "Precisely because we are Islamic, we will guarantee the rights of all people and all sects in Syria," said Bashir.

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Asked whether Syria's new constitution would be Islamic, he told Italian daily Corriere della Sera that "we will clarify all these details during the constituent process."

In his interview with Corriere della Sera, which was published on Wednesday, Bashir called on Syrians abroad to return to their homeland. "Mine is an appeal to all Syrians abroad: Syria is now a free country that has earned its pride and dignity. Come back," he said. "We must rebuild, be reborn and we need everyone's help."

He also said that Syria's new rulers would be willing to work with anyone so long as they did not defend Assad. "We have no problem with anyone, state, party or sect, who kept their distance from the bloodthirsty Assad regime," he said. Assad was propped up by Russia, where he reportedly fled, as well as Iran and Hezbollah.

Massive rebuild

Rebuilding Syria will be a colossal task following a civil war that killed around half a million people. Cities have been bombed to ruins, swathes of countryside depopulated, the economy gutted by international sanctions and millions of refugees still live in camps after one of the biggest displacements of modern times.

With European countries pausing asylum applications from Syrians, some refugees from Turkey and elsewhere began making their way home.

Ala Jabeer cried as he prepared to cross from Turkey into Syria with his 10-year-old daughter on Tuesday, 13 years after the war forced him to flee his home. He returns without his wife and three of his children who died in devastating earthquakes that struck the region last year.

"God willing, things will be better than under Assad's government. We've already seen that his oppression is over," he said. "The most important reason for me to return is that my mother lives in Latakia. She can take care of my daughter, so I can work."

In the Syrian capital Damascus, banks reopened for the first time since Assad's overthrow on Tuesday. Shops also opened again, traffic returned to the roads, cleaners were out sweeping the streets and there were fewer armed men about.

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U.S. caution

U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer told Reuters Washington was still working out how it will engage with the rebel groups and added that as yet there had been no formal change of policy and that actions were what counted.

Finer said U.S. troops in northeastern Syria as part of a counter-terrorism mission would be staying there, and the top U.S. general responsible for the Middle East visited them on Tuesday. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller declined to say whether Washington would change HTS' designation as a foreign terrorist organization, which prevents the U.S. from assisting it.

"We have seen over the years any number of militant groups who have seized power, who have promised that they would respect minorities, who have promised that they would respect religious freedom, promised that they would govern in an inclusive way, and then see them fail to meet those promises," he said.

Miller said the United States had asked HTS to help locate and free American journalist Austin Tice, who was kidnapped in Syria in 2012. He said this was a "priority" for Washington.