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24 April 2009 Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad reshuffled the government on
Thursday, appointing six new ministers and creating a
separate environment ministry headed by a woman, the
official SANA news agency reported.
The shake-up was the sixth since the government of
Prime Minister Mohammed Naji Otri was formed in 2003
and the latest since September 2008.
A decree by Assad saw senior intelligence officer
Saeed Sammur named as interior minister, replacing
General Bassam Abdel Majid, a former military police
chief who entered the government in a February 2006
reshuffle. The justice ministry also changed hands,
with Ahmad Yunis replacing Mohammed Ghafri.
Presidential Affairs Minister Ghassan Laham left the
cabinet and was replaced by Mansur Azzam, while the
health ministry went to Rida Saeed who takes over from
Maher Hussami.
The former ministry of local administration and the
environment headed by Hilal al-Atrash was split in
two, with the local administration portfolio going to
Tamer al-Hijeh. A woman, Kawkab al-Sabah Daheh, was
appointed Syria's new minister of state for the
environment. Lebanon's
First Syria Ambassador Begins Work
Lebanon's first ever
ambassador to neighbor Syria began work on Thursday
almost six months after the two neighbors set up
diplomatic ties, Syria's official news agency said.
Michel el-Khoury presented his credentials to Foreign
Minister Walid Moallem marking the official start of
his tenure in Syria, SANA news agency reported.
During the meeting they discussed "ways of developing
relations to serve the interests of both countries,"
SANA news agency said.
Khoury, a career diplomat and former ambassador to
Cyprus, was named at the start of the year and an
embassy was opened in the Syrian capital in March.
Also in March Lebanon approved the nomination of Ali
Abdel Karim Ali as Syria's first ambassador to Beirut,
where it opened an embassy in December. |
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