(Reuters) -Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa announced a transitional government on Saturday, a key milestone in the transition away from decades of Assad family rule and improving Syria’s ties with the West.
Syria’s new Islamist-led authorities have been under pressure by the West and Arab countries to form a government that is more inclusive of the country’s diverse ethnic and religious communities.
That pressure increased following the killings of hundreds of Alawite civilians – the minority sect from which toppled leader Bashar al-Assad hails – in violence along Syria’s western coast earlier this month.
Mohammed Yosr Bernieh was named finance minister while Hind Kabawat, a Christian woman, was appointed as social affairs and labor minister.
It kept Murhaf Abu Qasra and Asaad al-Shibani, who were already serving as defence and foreign ministers respectively in the previous caretaker cabinet that has governed Syria since Assad was toppled in December by a lightning rebel offensive.
In January, Sharaa was named as interim president and pledged to form an inclusive transitional government that would build up Syria’s gutted public institutions and run the country until elections, which he said could take up to five years to hold.
The government will not have a prime minister, with Sharaa expected to lead the executive branch.
Earlier this month, Syria issued a constitutional declaration, designed to serve as the foundation for the interim period led by Sharaa. The declaration kept a central role for Islamic law and guaranteed women’s rights and freedom of expression.
(Reporting by Enas Alashray and Ahmed Tolba; Writing by Maya; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
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