The Syrian transitional cabinet, created in March 2025, came after the ouster of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in 2024 [GETTY]
Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa announced a series of government changes in late-night presidential decrees published by state news agency SANA.
The new appointments include former Homs governor Abdul Rahman Badreddine al-Aama, who replaces Sharaa’s brother Maher as secretary-general of the Syrian presidency, a move that had drawn criticism from opponents who accused the administration of favouring nepotism over merit.
Sharaa appointed Khaled Zaarour as information minister, replacing Hamza Mustafa, who was moved to the foreign ministry.
Information Minister Hamza Almustafa and Agriculture Minister Amjad Badr were replaced by Khaled Fawaz Zaarour and Bassel Hafez al-Sweidan, respectively.
Zaarour was head of the media faculty at Damascus University before his appointment.
As agriculture minister, he named Bassel Sweidan, who also heads a committee tasked with reaching settlement agreements with business tycoons linked to the Assad-era elite.
Sharaa replaced governors in the provinces of Homs, al Quneitra and Deir Ezzor, the eastern province where most of Syria’s oil fields are located.
The reshuffle is the first since the ouster of former President Bashar al-Assad and comes around a year and a half into the five-year transitional period set out in Syria’s constitutional declaration.
No official reason was given for the changes, but protests and social media campaigns have emerged in recent months over worsening economic conditions and what critics describe as poor government performance.
