The tomb of Hafez, who was president from 1971 until his death in 2000, was burned in his hometown of Qardaha, located in the Latakia heartland of al-Assad’s Alawite community. Bashar al-Assad succeeded him in 2000.

Mohammed al-Bashir, the newly appointed caretaker prime minister, said the priority was to ensure that people could return to work, but pledged to bring to justice “those whose hands are stained with blood”.

“Most of the employees who worked in these institutions have returned to their jobs and resumed their work. The door remains open for all employees, except for those whose hands are stained with blood from military institutions or the shabiha,” he said, referring to Syrian fighter groups loyal to the al-Assad family.

“These individuals will be referred to courts for trial before being allowed to return to their roles in the institutions,” al-Bashir, who headed the regional government in Idlib province, added.

Syrians across the country celebrated the spectacular end to five decades of brutal rule by the al-Assad family, after a lightning offensive spearheaded by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group and its allies.

HTS remains classified as a “terrorist” group by the United States, Turkey and other governments as it waged an armed rebellion against the al-Assad regime for more than a decade.

At a G7 meeting on Friday, world leaders are expected to weigh whether to support Syria’s new transitional government and possibly lift the designation.

In a bid to assuage concerns over the inclusivity of a government led by HTS, which was part of al-Qaeda before breaking ties in 2016, al-Bashir repeatedly said the new government would protect minority rights.

The Baath party of the deposed President al-Assad announced it would suspend its work “in all its forms… until further notice” and hand over assets to the authorities.

Mohammad Nassif, a resident of Latakia, told Al Jazeera the tomb had been desecrated in an act of spite towards Hafez al-Assad and his removed son Bashar.

“We saw it burned and destroyed by the people of his village because he starved them, because they hated him, and because he destroyed us, he displaced them and displaced us,” Nassif said.

The new administration has also pledged to close the former regime’s notorious prisons, where thousands were tortured and executed.

Hlala Merei, a Palestinian refugee in Syria, said the torture and arbitrary detention inflicted by the regime on its people was unforgivable.

“Why did Bashar al-Assad do this to the people? If he had imprisoned them, tried them, we wouldn’t have said no. But to cut them up like that? It’s unjust,” he said.

The new administration has called the millions of refugees who fled the country during the civil war to return to rebuild the country.

Nearly half the country’s pre-war population was displaced and millions fled the country during the 13 years of war.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to arrive in Jordan on Thursday for a regional tour aimed at discussing an “inclusive” government transition in Syria, according to spokesman Matthew Miller.

The United Nations envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen urged an inclusive process and warned that divisions could lead to new civil strife.

At the office of the Damascus governor, Mohammed Ghazal told the Reuters news agency that the new government did not have a problem with “any ethnicity and religion … The one who made the problem was the [Assad] regime.”

Zakaria Malahifji, secretary-general of the Syrian National Movement who once served as political adviser to rebels in Aleppo, lamented the lack of consultation.

“You are bringing [ministers] from one colour, there should be participation of others,” he said of the new government. “Syrian society is diverse in terms of cultures, ethnicities, so frankly this is concerning.”

Mohammed al-Bashir, the former head of the rebel administration in the north-west, was speaking to Al Jazeera after being tasked with governing until March 2025 by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies.

Bashir chaired a meeting in Damascus on Tuesday attended by members of his new government and those of Assad’s former cabinet to discuss the transfer of portfolios and institutions.

It came as the UN envoy for Syria said the rebels must transform their “good messages” into practice on the ground.

The US secretary of state meanwhile said Washington would recognise and fully support a future Syrian government so long as it emerged from a credible, inclusive process that respected minorities.

In 2011, Assad brutally crushed a peaceful pro-democracy uprising, sparking a devastating civil war in which more than half a million people have been killed and 12 million others forced to flee their homes.

Before this week, Mohammed al-Bashir was little known outside the areas dominated by HTS in the north-western provinces of Idlib and Aleppo.

According to his CV, he trained as an electrical engineer and worked at gas plants before the start of the civil war in 2011.

In January, Bashir was appointed prime minister of the Salvation Government (SG), which HTS established to run the territory under its control.

The SG functioned like a state, with ministries, local departments, judicial and security authorities, while maintaining a religious council guided by Islamic law.

Around four million people, many of them displaced from elsewhere in the country, lived under its rule.

When institutions stopped functioning in Aleppo after HTS and its allies captured the city earlier this month at the start of their lightning offensive, the SG stepped in to restore public services.

Technicians reportedly helped repair local electricity and telecommunications networks, security forces patrolled streets, medics volunteered at hospitals, and charities distributed bread.

“It is true that Idlib is a small region lacking resources, but they [SG officials] have a very high-level of experience after starting with nothing,” HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani was heard telling Assad’s former prime minister, Mohammed al-Jalali, in a video of a meeting in Damascus on Monday.

“We will benefit from your experiences. We certainly won’t ignore you,” he added.

On Tuesday, Bashir was pictured chairing a meeting of former SG ministers and ministers who served under Jalali. He was sat in front of the Syrian opposition and the HTS flags.”[We] invited members from the old government and some directors from the administration in Idlib and its surrounding areas in order to facilitate all the necessary works for the next two months until we have a constitutional system to be able to serve the Syrian people,” Bashir told Al Jazeera afterwards.

“We had other meetings to restart the institutions to be able to serve our people in Syria,” he added.

Also on Tuesday, rebel commander Hasan Abdul Ghani announced his forces have taken control over the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zour. It had previously been captured by Syrian Kurdish troops on Friday.

Meanwhile, life appeared to be slowly returning to normal in the capital Damascus after two days of near-shutdown.

There were many pedestrians and cars out on the streets, and some shops and restaurants were open.

People were also sweeping away spent bullet cases that littered the ground around the central Umayyad Square, where many rebel fighters fired into the air as crowds celebrated the end of Assad’s 24-year rule.

A Muslim cleric there told the BBC that Syrians were looking to the future and wanted a peaceful and united country.

“We want to establish a nation built on principles of nationalism, justice, and the rule of law, a technocratic state where institutions are respected, and equal opportunities are guaranteed for all,” Sheikh Abdul Rahman al-Kouky said.

UN special envoy Geir Pedersen told reporters in Geneva the transition needed to ensure “the representation of the broadest possible spectrum of the Syrian society and the Syrian parties”.

“If this is not happening, then we risk new conflict,” he warned.

Pedersen said the designation of HTS as a terrorist organisation by the UN, US, UK and other countries would be a “complicating factor” in efforts to find a way forward.

HTS’s precursor, al-Nusra Front, pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda in 2013. But three years later, it formally cut ties with the jihadist group.

“The reality is so far that HTS and also the other armed groups have been sending good messages to the Syrian people… of unity, of inclusiveness,” Pedersen noted.

“We gave also seen… reassuring things on the ground” in Aleppo and Hama, another major city that was captured last week, he added.

He said the most important test would be how the transitional arrangements in Damascus were organised and implemented.

“If they are really inclusive of all the different groups and all the communities in Syria… then there is a possibility for a new beginning.”

“And then I do believe that the international community will look at the [terrorist] listing of HTS again,” he added.

Later, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in effect laid out a series of conditions which, if fulfilled, would see Syria enjoy Washington’s full recognition.

“It’s imperative that all actors involved protect civilians; respect human rights, especially of vulnerable minorities; preserve the state’s institutions, its services to help meet the needs of the Syrian; and to build towards inclusive governance,” he said.

“Statements by rebel leaders to these ends are very welcome, but of course, the real measure of their commitment is not just what they say but what they do.”