Syria swears in new transitional government 4 months after Assad’s removal
The Hindu
Syria's new transitional government sworn in to bring stability after Assad's removal, includes diverse Cabinet members.
Syria’s new transitional government was sworn in Saturday (March 29, 2025) nearly four months after the Assad family was removed from power and as the new authorities in Damascus work to bring back stability to the war-torn country.
The 23-member Cabinet, which is religiously and ethnically mixed, is the first in the country’s five-year transitional period and replaces the interim government that was formed shortly after Bashar Assad was removed from power in early December.
The Cabinet does not have a Prime Minister since according to the temporary constitution signed by interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa earlier this month, the government will have a secretary general.
The government that was announced ahead of Eid el-Fitr, the feast that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that starts in Syria on Monday (March 31, 2025), includes new faces apart from the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defence. They kept the posts they held in the interim government. Syria’s new Interior Minister Anas Khattab was until recently the head of the intelligence department.
“The formation of a new government today is a declaration of our joint will to build a new state,” Mr. al-Sharaa said in a speech marking the formation of the government.
Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra said his main goal will be to build a professional army “from the people and for the people.”
The government did not include members of the U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces or the autonomous civil administration in northeast Syria. Mr. Al-Sharaa and SDF commander Mazloum Abdi signed a breakthrough deal earlier this month in Damascus on a nationwide ceasefire and the merging of the U.S.-backed force into the Syrian army.
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