Syria Sets First Cabinet Reshuffle Since Assad Ouster, State Media Reportshttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5271498-syria-sets-first-cabinet-reshuffle-assad-ouster-state-media-reports
Syria Sets First Cabinet Reshuffle Since Assad Ouster, State Media Reports
This handout photo provided by Syria's SANA news agency's Telegram channel on May 9, 2026, shows Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa meeting with the Lebanese Prime Minister (unseen) at the People's Palace in Damascus. (SANA / AFP)
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Syria Sets First Cabinet Reshuffle Since Assad Ouster, State Media Reports
This handout photo provided by Syria's SANA news agency's Telegram channel on May 9, 2026, shows Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa meeting with the Lebanese Prime Minister (unseen) at the People's Palace in Damascus. (SANA / AFP)
Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa announced a series of government changes in late-night presidential decrees published by state news agency SANA.
Sharaa appointed Khaled Zaarour as information minister, replacing Hamza Mustafa, who was moved to the foreign ministry. 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.
Sharaa also appointed a new secretary-general for the presidency, a post previously held by one of his brothers, a move that had drawn criticism from opponents who accused the administration of favoring nepotism over merit.
Hezbollah Fires Rockets into Israel; Israel Orders Evacuation of Seven Lebanese Villageshttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5278631-hezbollah-fires-rockets-israel-israel-orders-evacuation-seven-lebanese-villages
Hezbollah Fires Rockets into Israel; Israel Orders Evacuation of Seven Lebanese Villages
Smoke billows from southern Lebanon, following Israeli strikes, as seen from Nabatieh, Lebanon, May 30, 2026. REUTERS/ Stringer
Hezbollah said on Saturday it fired rockets at the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, as exchanges of fire between the two sides have intensified despite Lebanon-Israel negotiations.
In at least two statements, the Iran-backed group said it launched a "rocket barrage" at the town "in defense of Lebanon and its people, and in response to the Israeli enemy's violation of the ceasefire".
Meanwhile, the Israeli military issued evacuation warnings for residents of seven villages in southern Lebanon, saying it was about to strike Hezbollah targets there.
The Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X that the Israeli military “is compelled to take decisive action” against Hezbollah in light of the group’s “violations of the ceasefire agreement”.
US Hails ‘Productive’ Talks Between Lebanon, Israel Military Officialshttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5278607-us-hails-%E2%80%98productive%E2%80%99-talks-between-lebanon-israel-military-officials
The border wall separating Israel (R) and Lebanon is pictured from a position along the Upper Galilee region of northern Israel on May 29, 2026. (AFP)
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US Hails ‘Productive’ Talks Between Lebanon, Israel Military Officials
The border wall separating Israel (R) and Lebanon is pictured from a position along the Upper Galilee region of northern Israel on May 29, 2026. (AFP)
Military officials from Lebanon and Israel held "productive" talks in Washington on Friday, a US official said, adding that the meeting will complement upcoming diplomatic discussions.
"Today at the Pentagon, I hosted military delegations from Israel and Lebanon for the security track supporting the ongoing peace talks between their two countries," Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon's second-in-command, said on X.
"We held productive military-to-military discussions which will inform the Department of State-led political track next week," he said.
It was the first meeting between Lebanese and Israeli military officials in decades.
"The United States anticipates reconvening soon to continue the security track," Colby said.
He made no mention of the truce to halt fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon that was supposed to have taken effect on April 17, but has never been observed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that his country's forces had pushed deeper into Lebanon and continued heavy bombardment of the country's south.
Israeli strikes on Friday in three areas of Tyre, in southern Lebanon, killed 11 people including a rescuer, the country's health ministry said. Eight people were wounded.
Hezbollah said it had launched a series of attacks targeting soldiers, barracks and a military camp in northern Israel on Friday.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun stressed to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio "the need to exert all efforts to reach a ceasefire" as an essential first step for progress in negotiations.
The State Department said Rubio "commended President Aoun's courage and vision in pursuing direct negotiations with Israel" despite Hezbollah's opposition, adding the group was "entirely responsible for the ongoing fighting."
The meeting at the Pentagon took place amid ongoing negotiations between the United States and Iran, with Tehran seeking to include the Lebanese front in any agreement aimed at ending the war in the Middle East.
Iraq Awaits Zaidi’s First Move on Disarmament of Factionshttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5278595-iraq-awaits-zaidi%E2%80%99s-first-move-disarmament-factions
Iraq Awaits Zaidi’s First Move on Disarmament of Factions
Zaidi speaks before presenting his government to parliament in Baghdad on May 14, 2026. (AFP)
Iraqi sources said on Friday that the prime minister’s office is preparing intensive consultations after Eid al-Adha as part of a plan to “reorganize the file of armed factions” and confine weapons to the state, as early moves emerge to dismantle the factions and merge them into official institutions.
Sources said Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has been in contact and exchanged direct messages in recent days with political forces with armed factions, in an effort to establish gradual mechanisms for the handover of weapons.
Five armed factions have so far declared an initial readiness to hand over their weapons, but have given no clear details or timetable.
The move is being viewed as the first political and security test of efforts to dismantle armed groups outside the state in a country where about 20 of them still operate beyond full official control, according to political estimates.
Weapons handover
The sources said the government plans to hold separate meetings with political leaders and blocs with armed factions, particularly within the ruling pro-Iran Coordination Framework, to agree on handover mechanisms and the reintegration of fighters into the regular forces or civilian state institutions.
In a significant move, influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr announced that he was breaking with his armed faction, Saraya al-Salam, and handing its weapons and headquarters to the state.
Observers saw the step as backing the prime minister’s efforts and raising political pressure on other factions to follow suit.
A motorbike drives past a banner depicting influential cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, erected along a street the Iraqi capital Baghdad on May 27, 2026. (AFP)
The sources said the restructuring of Saraya al-Salam involved three main brigades, which include about 9,000 members, and placing them under the command of the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. That could make it easier to integrate them later into state institutions.
Sadr’s return
Other factions remain divided. Some political forces with armed groups have said they do not plan to join the current government, while others voiced conditional support for reform steps, demanding guarantees over the legal status of their members.
The Nujaba faction renewed its refusal to hand over weapons outside what it calls an “ideological path.” Other factions have adopted a more flexible tone, but have not publicly committed to any timetable.
A source within the Coordination Framework said the dismantling of Saraya al-Salam could open the way for a wider political repositioning by the Sadrist movement and give the government more room to maneuver on the armed factions file.
Political researcher Ghalib al-Daami told Asharq Al-Awsat that Sadr’s move “will strengthen the government’s ability to control weapons outside state authority and weaken the justifications of factions that refuse to hand them over.”
Al-Daami said some members of Saraya al-Salam are already part of the pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces and receive salaries from it.
He said the faction’s civilian wing is expected to be reintegrated into civilian groups working in the humanitarian field.
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