Syria’s new transitional government announced

Syria’s new transitional government has been unveiled – nearly four months after the fall of the Assad regime.

The formation of the new government marks a key milestone after decades of Assad family rule came to an end in December last year.

Syria’s interim president Ahmad al Sharaa has since been at the head of a transitional government led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al Sham.

He has pledged to form an inclusive transitional government and has faced pressure to keep that promise from both Western and Arab nations.

That pressure increased after the deaths of hundreds of Alawite civilians in violent scenes along Syria‘s western coast earlier this month.

Bashar al Assad, who was toppled in December, hailed from the minority sect.

On Saturday, the new government’s 23-member cabinet was announced.

Among those announced was Hind Kabawat, a Christian woman and activist who opposed Assad since the conflict began in March 2011, and who will serve as minister for social affairs and labour.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Yosr Bernieh has been named Syria’s finance minister in the new government.

Both Murhaf Abu Qasra and Asaad al Shibani will remain in their roles as defence and foreign ministers, respectively.

They had both served in the previous caretaker government following the fall of the Assad regime.

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Mr Sharaa, who was named interim president in January, said his government would run the country until the next set of elections, which he said could take up to five years to hold.

Syria issued an interim constitutional declaration earlier this month, which kept a central role for Islamic law and guaranteed women’s rights and freedom of expression.