Syria's interim PM assumes power after Assad flees

The departing government met with Mohammed al-Bashir for the first time since Assad fled Damascus over the weekend.

Syria's new interim leader Mohammed al-Bashir announced he was taking charge of the country as caretaker prime minister until March 1 with the backing of the former rebels who toppled President Bashar al-Assad only days ago. 

The departing government met with al-Bashir for the first time since Assad fled Damascus over the weekend. 

Al-Bashir told reporters after the meeting that the ministers discussed transferring the portfolios to the interim government during the transitional period until the beginning of March. 

He said that in the coming days the new government will decide on each ministry. 

Elsewhere in Syria, people continue to celebrate for a third day  and shops and banks reopened despite Israeli airstrikes across the country.    

Assad was toppled from power, after rebel forces seized the capital Damascus following more than 13 years of civil war.

Meanwhile Benjamin Netanyahu  took the stand for the first time in a long-running corruption trial that will likely force him to juggle between the courtroom and war room for weeks.

Charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust, Netanyahu will testify three times a week, the court said, despite the Gaza war and possible new threats posed by wider turmoil in the Middle East, including in neighbouring Syria.

Netanyahu was indicted in 2019 in three cases involving gifts from millionaire friends and for allegedly seeking regulatory favours for media tycoons in return for favourable coverage. He denies any wrongdoing.

Israel has been waging war in Gaza against the Palestinian militant group for more than a year, during which Netanyahu had been granted a delay for the start of his court appearances. But last Thursday, judges ruled that he must start testifying.

In the run-up to his court date, Netanyahu revived familiar pre-war rhetoric against law enforcement, describing investigations against him as a witch hunt.