Syria's Assad Appoints Seven New Ministers
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Syrian President Bashar Assad has changed seven ministers in his cabinet, the official SANA news agency reported on Saturday, without saying why. None of the key portfolios was affected.
The agency said Assad had decided to split the ministry of labor and social affairs into two, and brought in a woman, Kinda Shmat, to head the latter. Hassan Hijazi becomes labor minister.
Sleiman Abbas takes the oil and mineral resources portfolio, and Ismail Ismail becomes finance minister. Hussein Farzat gets housing and urban development, Ahmad al-Qadri goes to agriculture and public works goes to Hussein Arnus.
Assad has announced several reshuffles since the uprising against his rule broke out nearly two years ago, the most recent in August last year.
The United Nations says that more than 60,000 people have been killed in the armed conflict, which has also caused more than 700,000 Syrians to flee as refugees to neighboring states Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq.
09 February 2013, 14:10
34
All done is a democratic fashion. I am sure it was all done with the recommendation of the prime minister and approval of parliament. Syria is Bashar and Bashar is Diety.
09 February 2013, 17:04
00
This is one of the best moves he made to this date. With this reshuffle, he could now concentrate on rebuilding not only the stones that were destroyed but the humans that were affected by the war. I think the new ministers would be more creative than their predecessors and will function in the best interest of the people. I also think that Bashar has come to the conclusion that he should do something worthwhile and here we go: he appointed the best to take care of real business. I am hopeful that his next step would be to sit down with his opponents and discuss a way of getting out of the war that had destroyed almost everything. Bravo Bashar and keep the good work up. I also suggest that he gives his opponents real positions in the new government so that he and them could rebuild the country on a democratic basis.
