DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Syria’s new rulers have appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency that toppled Bashar al-Assad, as defense minister in the interim government, an official source said on Thursday. Saturday.

Abu Qasra, who is also known by the nom de guerre Abu Hassan 600, is a senior figure in the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that led the campaign that ousted Assad this month. He led several military operations during the Syrian revolution, the source said.

Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed the “form of military institutions in the new Syria” during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.

Photos published by SANA show Abu Qasra during the meeting scheduled next to Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani.

Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said this week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who left Assad’s army.

Bashir, who previously headed an HTS-affiliated administration in the northwestern province of Idlib, said he would lead a three-month transitional government. The new administration has not declared plans for what will happen after that.

Last Saturday, the ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the wishes of the Syrian people to establish international relations that bring peace and stability”.

Shibani, a 37-year-old graduate of Damascus University, previously headed the political department of the rebel Idlib government, the General Command said.

Sharaa’s group was part of al Qaeda until it severed ties in 2016. It was holed up in Idlib for years until the offensive resumed in late November, sweeping into cities in western Syria and into Damascus as the army dissolved.

Sharaa met with several international envoys this week. He said that his main focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development and that he is not interested in participating in any new conflicts.

Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on December 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule.

Washington designated Sharaa as a terrorist in 2013, saying that al Qaeda in Iraq entrusted him to overthrow the Assad regime and establish Islamic sharia law in Syria. US officials said on Friday that Washington would remove a $10 million bounty on his head.

The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused one of the biggest refugee crises in modern times and left bombed cities in ruins and economies crippled by global sanctions.