With the Syrian rebels forcing Bashar al-Assad to flee the country after capturing Damascus, all eyes are on the new regime led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) head Abu Mohammed al-Julani.
Al-Julani said former Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi al-Jalali who was appointed by ousted president al-Assad in September will oversee the state institutions for the time being.
Will Abu Mohammed al-Julani succeed Bashar al-Assad?
Reports suggest that Abu Mohammed al-Julani aka Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the head of HTS, will take over the government in the coming days.
The US has designated the HTS as a terror outfit. However, al-Julani reportedly seeks to show the world that he liberated Syria from tyranny and wants to establish his upcoming regime as a legitimate government to succeed Assad.
Born Ahmed al-Shara in 1982 in Saudi Arabia, al-Julani signed the statements from HTS is his real name. His family came back to Syria in 1982 and settled near Damascus. He joined the Iraqi branch of al-Qaeda in 2003. He established Jabhat al-Nusra as an affiliate of al-Qaeda in 2011.
Though he cooperated with the Islamic State once, he had a fallout with its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. His outfit, HTS, had been running a government in Idlib province until late November when they rapidly advanced to Aleppo, capturing Hama, Homs and Damascus.
Meanwhile, Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan extended support to the new administration, saying Syria has reached a stage where the people will shape the future of their own country.
He said the Syrian people canot do this alone and Turkey attaches importance to the country's territorial intergrity. He added that the new government in Syria should be established inclusively and there should be no desire for revenge.