TEHRAN: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said that the weakening of the anti-Israel “resistance” after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad in Syria would not diminish Tehran’s power.
Some, “unaware of the meaning of resistance, imagine that when the resistance becomes weak, Iran will also become weak… Iran is strong and powerful and will become even more powerful,” Khamenei said in his first speech after Assad’s fall.
Syrian insurgents’ lightning push to Damascus from their strongholds in the northwest ended the decades-long rule of Assad’s family, once an ally of Iran.
The Iranian supreme leader, who has the final say in his country’s affairs, accused the United States and “the Zionist regime”, Israel, of plotting against Assad.
“No one should doubt that what has taken place in Syria is the product of a joint US-Israeli plot,” he added.
His remarks come as the alliance of Syrian groups now in power in Damascus appointed Mohammad al-Bashir as head of a transitional government that will be in place until March 1, state media reported on Tuesday.
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On Sunday, the alliance led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took control of the capital Damascus in a lightning offensive, toppling president Bashar al-Assad who left the country.
Before being tapped for the role, he had been head of the Salvation Government in northwest Syria and previously held the role of its development minister.
Also Tuesday, a source within the political affairs department of the Salvation Government told AFP Bashir would head the transitional government.
Who is Mohammed al-Bashir?
Bashir has been serving as the prime minister of the Syrian Salvation Government since January 13 this year.
The 41-year-old is a trained engineer by profession who also has a degree in Sharia law from the university in Idlib.
Following the outbreak of the civil war in Syria in 2011, he became the director of an educational institution which provided education to children affected by the conflict.
Before becoming prime minister of the Salvation Government in January 2024, he worked for the group’s ministry responsible for development and humanitarian aid.
