Syria’s interim president forms new transitional government

Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has sworn in a new transitional Cabinet that replaced the caretaker authorities in place since the ouster of longtime ruler Bashar Assad in December 2024.

The 23-member Cabinet, dominated by close al-Sharaa allies who hold key positions, includes one woman and is religiously and ethnically mixed.

“The formation of a new government today is a declaration of our joint will to build a new state,” al-Sharaa said in a speech at the presidential palace as the ministers were sworn in.

The naming of a transitional government is seen as a key milestone as the country’s new leaders seek to rebuild Syria after the overthrow of Assad brought an end to 14 years of civil war.

Syria’s Islamist-led authorities have been under international pressure to form a government that is more inclusive of the country’s diverse ethnic and religious communities.

That pressure grew following the killings of hundreds of Alawite civilians — the minority sect from which toppled leader Bashar Assad hails — in violence along Syria’s western coast earlier in March.

Who is in Syria’s new transitional government?

Close allies of al-Sharaa held on to important positions, with Foreign Minister Assaad al-Shaibani and Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra retaining their Cabinet posts.

Anas Khattab, the head of general intelligence and another al-Sharaa ally, was appointed interior minister.

The Cabinet also includes Yarub Badr, an Alawite who was named transportation minister.

Amgad Badr, who belongs to Syria’s Druze minority, will lead the Agriculture Ministry.

Veteran opposition figure Hind Kabawat, a Christian woman and longtime Assad opponent, was appointed as social affairs and labor minister. She is the first woman to be appointed by al-Sharaa.

Raed al-Saleh, the leader of the White Helmets, the Syrian rescuers who worked in rebel-held areas, was appointed emergency minister.

A Damascus-based Syrian Kurd, Mohammed Terko, was named minister of education while al-Sharaa’s brother was replaced as minister of health.

The announcement of the mixed government aims to try to convince Western countries to lift crippling economic sanctions that were imposed on Assad more than a decade ago.

According to the United Nations, 90% of Syrians are below the poverty line, while millions face cuts in food aid as a result of the war.

When will Syria hold elections?

Al-Sharaa, who headed the Islamist rebel group that led the lightening offensive against Assad in  December, was named as interim president in January.

He signed a temporary constitution earlier in March that set a five-year transitional period. He has said that it will take four to five years to establish the necessary infrastructure to hold elections.