(Reuters) – The official Syrian News Agency (SANA) said on Saturday that Syria's new rulers have appointed a foreign minister as part of their efforts to build international relations, two weeks after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad.
SANA said that the ruling General Command appointed Asaad Hassan Al-Shaibani as Minister of Foreign Affairs. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people to establish international relations that achieve peace and stability.”
Details about Al-Shaibani were not immediately available.
Syria's de facto ruler, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has actively engaged with foreign delegations since taking power, including hosting the UN envoy to Syria and senior American diplomats.
Al-Sharaa expressed his willingness to deal diplomatically with international envoys, saying that his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development. He said he was not interested in getting into any new conflicts.
The United States, other Western powers and many Syrians were happy to see opposition groups led by Sharia's Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham oust Assad, but it is not clear whether the Islamist group will impose strict Islamist rule or show flexibility and move toward achieving its goals. democracy. Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham was part of Al-Qaeda until Al-Shara cut ties with it in 2016.
Syrian rebels took control of Damascus on December 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family's decades-long rule.
Forces under the command of al-Sharaa – known as Abu Muhammad al-Julani – formed a caretaker government for three months that ruled a rebel enclave in Syria's northwestern Idlib province.
Washington classified Al-Sharaa as a terrorist in 2013, saying that Al-Qaeda in Iraq had commissioned him to overthrow Assad’s rule and impose Islamic law in Syria. US officials said on Friday that Washington would cancel a $10 million bounty on his head.
The war has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, caused one of the largest refugee crises in modern times, devastated cities and been devastated by global sanctions.
