Rome, 11 December 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Syria's new interim prime minister, Mohammed al-Bashir, is calling on Syrian refugees around the world to return to their homeland following the toppling of Bashar al-Assad's regime.

"My appeal is to all Syrians abroad: Syria is now a free country that has regained its pride and dignity. Come back!" al-Bashir said in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera published on Wednesday.

After the end of the decades-long rule of the al-Assad family, security and stability must now be restored in all Syrian cities so that people can return to normal life, al-Bashir said. He is currently scheduled to remain in office until March.

He said that one of his most important goals would then be to help the war-ravaged country recover, and returning Syrian refugees could play an important role with their experience gained abroad.

"We have to rebuild our country and get it back on its feet, and we need everyone's help," he said.

Al-Bashir was previously the head of the government in the rebel stronghold of Idlib. It was from there that the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) - led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, who used to go by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Joulani - launched the offensive that toppled Bashar al-Assad on December 8.

Al-Bashir tried to dispel critics' fears that the HTS could exert too much Islamist influence on the rest of Syria. "The wrong behaviour of some Islamist groups has led many people, especially in the West, to associate Muslims with terrorism and Islam with extremism," he said.

He described this as a false characterization, and affirmed that he wanted to guarantee the rights of all people in Syria.

Asked about foreign policy, al-Bashir said that he and his transitional government had "no problems with states, parties or sects that have distanced themselves from al-Assad's bloodthirsty regime."

Asked whether this meant that he wanted to distance himself from Iran, Russia and Hezbollah and make peace with Israel, al-Bashir did not answer.

MIA file photo