Mohamed al-Bashir appointed as Syrian PM 

Mohamed al-Bashir has been appointed caretaker prime minister of the transitional Syrian government.

Al-Bashir ran the rebel-led Salvation Government before the 12-day lightning offensive swept into Damascus.

In a brief address on state television, Mohammed al-Bashir, 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.

Mohammed al-Bashir is a figure little known across most of Syria who previously ran an administration in a small pocket of the northwest controlled by rebels.

In the Syrian capital, banks reopened for the first time since Assad's overthrow. 

Shops were also reopening, traffic returned to the roads, construction workers were back fixing a roundabout in the Damascus city centre and street cleaners were out sweeping the streets.

Source: Agencies