Syria's Assad Appoints a New Cabinet

The Syrian flag is flown at half-mast in Damascus on May 20, 2024, after the country announced three days of national mourning following the death of Iran's President alongside his Foreign Minister and others in a helicopter crash near the Azerbaijan border. (AFP)
The Syrian flag is flown at half-mast in Damascus on May 20, 2024, after the country announced three days of national mourning following the death of Iran's President alongside his Foreign Minister and others in a helicopter crash near the Azerbaijan border. (AFP)
TT

Syria's Assad Appoints a New Cabinet

The Syrian flag is flown at half-mast in Damascus on May 20, 2024, after the country announced three days of national mourning following the death of Iran's President alongside his Foreign Minister and others in a helicopter crash near the Azerbaijan border. (AFP)
The Syrian flag is flown at half-mast in Damascus on May 20, 2024, after the country announced three days of national mourning following the death of Iran's President alongside his Foreign Minister and others in a helicopter crash near the Azerbaijan border. (AFP)

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued a decree forming a new government under Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali, the Syrian state news agency (SANA) reported on Monday.

The new cabinet sees new appointments in the ministries of foreign affairs, finance and electricity among others, and replaces an outgoing administration which has been serving in a caretaker role since parliamentary elections in mid-July, Reuters reported.

Another decree appointed ex-foreign minister Faisal Mekdad as Syria's Vice President.

Al-Jalali served as communications minister from 2014-2016. He has been subject to EU sanctions since 2014 for what the bloc called his "responsibility for the regime's violent repression of the civilian population".

According to UN figures, at least 350,000 people have been killed in Syria's civil war, which erupted in 2011 from an uprising against Assad's rule.



UK's Starmer Discussed Importance of a Ceasefire With Lebanon's PM

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer smiles on stage on the second day of the annual Labor Party conference in Liverpool, north-west England, on September 23, 2024. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer smiles on stage on the second day of the annual Labor Party conference in Liverpool, north-west England, on September 23, 2024. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)
TT

UK's Starmer Discussed Importance of a Ceasefire With Lebanon's PM

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer smiles on stage on the second day of the annual Labor Party conference in Liverpool, north-west England, on September 23, 2024. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer smiles on stage on the second day of the annual Labor Party conference in Liverpool, north-west England, on September 23, 2024. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met his Lebanese counterpart at the United Nations and discussed the importance of an immediate ceasefire and a negotiated solution in the conflict with Israel, his office said on Friday.
Starmer met Lebanon's Najib Mikati at the United Nations General Assembly, reported Reuters.
"The Prime Minister opened by giving his sincere condolences to Prime Minister Mikati for the loss of civilian life in recent weeks," the statement said.
"They discussed the escalating conflict in Lebanon, and agreed on the importance of an immediate ceasefire and a negotiated solution."