“Germany welcomes the appointment of a new government. We stand ready to support the Syrians in healing their wounds and rebuilding their country,” Stefan Schneck, Germany’s envoy to Syria, said on X.
Syria’s president Ahmed al-Sharaa announced his new cabinet on Saturday and described it as “a new phase in our national journey” to recover and rebuild Syria after 14 years of brutal civil war.
“Inclusiveness, transitional justice, and openness to working with international partners are essential to fulfilling the revolution's aspirations for a new, free, and better Syria,” Schneck stressed.
The new cabinet sees Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra retain their positions, but includes controversial figures such as US and UN-designated terrorist Anas Khattab, who was elevated from intelligence chief to interior minister, and top Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Sharia judge Mazhar al-Wais as justice minister.
After a rebel coalition led by Islamist Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) overthrew Bashar al-Assad’s regime last December, they formed a transitional government headed by Sharaa (formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani). He vowed that the rights of all Syria’s components would be protected under the new government, but has received criticism for the transitional constitution that cements authoritarian rule and is accused of excluding minority Kurdish, Druze, Christian, and Alawite communities from decision-making bodies.
Kurds in the northeast and Druze in the south have advocated for the adoption of a decentralized and secular system.
The interim constitution dictates a five-year transitional phase.
