Syria’s new transitional government is prioritising stabilising the country in the wake of the collapse of the Assad regime over responding to Israel’s ongoing offensive on Syrian military targets, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s (HTS) political spokesperson said in a televised interview on Wednesday.
"Our priority is to restore security and services, to revive Syrian life and institutions and care for newly liberated cites," Obeida Arnaout told Channel 4, in response to a question about how the new government might respond to Israel’s ongoing aggression.
The transitional government wants "everyone" to respect the country’s sovereignty, adding it is "very important" to the new administration.
Since rebel groups overthrew the Assad regime earlier this month, Israel has mounted a sustained bombing campaign across the country and seized territory near the occupied Golan Heights, triggering global condemnation.
The Israeli army has struck hundreds of military targets across the country in recent days, destroying the Syrian naval fleet in Latakia and hitting missile defence sites and weapons stockpiles.
Since taking control of a previously demilitarised buffer zone between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that the Golan Heights, which Israel seized in 1967, will be part of Israel for "eternity".
Swathes of the country remain out of the hands of the new government, with the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), controlling a third of the country in the north-east, and Turkey-backed groups occupying territory along the northern border.
"Too early" to talk about elections
Arnaout also said that the priority is "reactivating Syria's institutions" when pressed about plans for elections.
"It is still too early to talk about the details about how that government will be formed," he said.
HTS has chosen Mohamed al-Bashir, who previously served as the head of its self-proclaimed Syrian Salvation Government in Idlib, to serve as the country’s interim prime minister and lead a three-month transitional process.
He has appointed a temporary cabinet composed of opposition figures as well as former regime ministers to stabilise the country and lay the groundwork for a new, permanent government.
"We believe that HTS was a past phase and now we are at the end of this phase and the beginning of a new one," Arnaout told Channel 4.
"We are now beginning the plans for a new era of state-building, institutions and governance" he added.