Syria’s new interim Prime Minister said he aimed to bring back millions of Syrian refugees, protect all citizens and provide basic services but acknowledged it would be difficult because the country lacked foreign currency.

“In the coffers there are only Syrian pounds worth little or nothing. One US dollar buys 35,000 of our coins,” Mohammed al-Bashir told Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera. “We have no foreign currency and as for loans and bonds we are still collecting data. So yes, financially we are very bad.”

Bashir ran the rebel-led Salvation government in a tiny pocket of northwestern Syria, before the 12-day lightning rebel offensive swept into Damascus and toppled veteran autocrat President Bashar al-Assad.

Rebuilding Syria will be a colossal task following a civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of people. Cities have been bombed to ruins, swathes of countryside depopulated and the economy gutted by international sanctions. Millions of refugees still live in camps after one of the biggest displacements of modern times.

With European countries pausing asylum applications from Syrians, some refugees from Turkey and elsewhere began making their way home.

US officials, engaging with rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), urged them not to assume automatic leadership of the country but instead run an inclusive process to form a transitional government.

The new government must “uphold clear commitments to fully respect the rights of minorities, facilitate the flow of humanitarian assistance to all in need, prevent Syria from being used as a base for terrorism or posing a threat to its neighbours”, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said in a statement.

HTS is a former al Qaida affiliate that led the anti-Assad revolt. It has lately downplayed its jihadist roots but remains designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN, US, EU, Turkey and others.

In a brief address on state television on Tuesday, Bashir said he would lead the interim authority until March 1.