TUNIS, January 31. /TASS/. Ahmed al-Sharaa has announced work to form Syria’s interim government in his first address to the nation as the country’s leader, according to the Al-Watan newspaper’s broadcast on Facebook (prohibited in Russia due to its ownership by Meta, which is designated as extremist).
"We will work to form an interim government that will represent the interests of all Syrians, including women and young people," al-Sharaa said.
He also vowed to take the entire territory of Syria under control. "We will currently focus on a number of priority goals <...>, with one of the goals being to complete [the process of restoring] the territorial integrity of Syria, all of Syria <...> under a single authority," al-Sharaa stressed.
According to him, another goal is to achieve civil peace and prosecute the criminals "that committed crimes [against the Syrian people], regardless of whether they are holed up somewhere in the country or have fled abroad."
In late November 2024, Syria’s armed opposition forces started a large-scale offensive on government troops in the Aleppo and Idlib governorates. By the evening of December 7, they seized several large cities, including Aleppo, Hama, Deir ez-Zor, Daraa, and Homs. On December 8, they entered Damascus. Bashar Assad stepped down as Syrian president and left the country.
On December 10, Mohammed al-Bashir, who had led the so-called Syrian Salvation Government in the Idlib Province since January 2024, announced his appointment as head of Syria’s interim government. The interim period is expected to last until March 1, 2025. Head of the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham group (outlawed in Russia) Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, became the country’s actual leader.