New Syria PM calls for Syrians abroad to return

ROME/ Beirut — Syria's new transitional prime minister has called for Syrians who have sought refuge abroad to return to their homeland following the ouster of longtime president Bashar Al Assad.

Mohammad Al Bashir, appointed by rebel groups as the transitional head of government to run the country until March, told Italy's Corriere della Sera daily that one of his first goals was to "bring back the millions of Syrian refugees who are abroad".

"Their human capital, their experience will allow the country to flourish," Bashir said in an interview published Wednesday.

"Mine is an appeal to all Syrians abroad: Syria is now a free country that has earned its pride and dignity. Come back. We must rebuild, be reborn, and we need everyone's help."

Assad fled Syria as an Islamist-led opposition alliance swept into the capital Damascus over the weekend, bringing to an end five decades of brutal rule by his clan.

Syria's nearly 14-year civil war killed 500,000 people and forced half the country to flee their homes, millions of them finding refuge abroad.

With Assad gone, the country now faces enormous uncertainty.

Concerns about sectarian violence have surfaced, though the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS), which led the rebel offensive, has sought to reassure religious minorities they will be safe in the new Syria.

The country's diverse communities, including Christians, Kurds and Alawites, are now waiting to see what sort of government Bashir will lead.

Syria's Christian community generally supported the Assad government since the start of the civil war in 2011, with the president, himself from the minority Alawite sect, positioning himself as a protector of minorities.

The head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, called Wednesday for "mutual respect" between religions in Syria.

"I pray... that the Syrian people may live in peace and security in their beloved land and the different religions may walk together in friendship and mutual respect for the good of that nation afflicted by so many years of war," he said at his general audience at the Vatican.

Bashir told the Corriere that the "wrong behaviour of some Islamist groups has led many people, especially in the West, to associate Muslims with terrorism and Islam with extremism".

"The meaning of Islam, which is 'religion of justice', was distorted. Precisely because we are Islamic, we will guarantee the rights of all people and all sects in Syria," he said in the interview, published in Italian.

He also said "we have no problem with anyone, state, party or sect, who kept their distance from the bloodthirsty Assad regime".

Fighting between Turkish-backed and Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria has left 218 people dead in just three days, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor reported on Tuesday.

The British-based monitor said that at least "218 members of pro-Kurdish forces and pro-Ankara factions were killed during three days of fighting in and around Manbij" where Turkish-backed factions launched an offensive.