The new authorities led by Syria’s Sunni Islamic are under pressure from Western and Arabs to form a government that is more inclusive of the country’s various ethnic and religious communities.
This pressure has increased after the murders of hundreds of civilians alawites – the minority sect from which the leader Bashar al -assad – in violence on the west of Syria this month.
The cabinet included Yarub Badr, an alawita who was appointed Minister of Transport, while Amgad Badr, who belongs to the Druscular community, will lead the Ministry of Agriculture.
Hind Kabawat, a Christian woman and part of the opposition before Assad, who worked for interreligious tolerance and women’s empowerment, was named social affairs and labor minister.
Mohammed Yosr Bernieh was appointed finance minister.
He kept Murhaf Abu Qasra and Asaad Al-Shibani, who were already serving as defense ministers and foreigners, respectively, in the previous office of caregivers who ruled Syria since Assad was overthrown in December by a rebel offensive.
Sharaa also said she first established a sports ministry and another for emergencies, with the head of a rescue group known as white helmets, Raed al-Saleh, appointed as Emergency Minister.
In January, Sharaa was appointed interim president and promised to form an inclusive transition government that would build public institutions destroyed from Syria and run the country to the elections, which he said could take up to five years to be held.
The government will not have a first -minister, with Sharaa who should lead the executive branch.
Earlier this month, Syria issued a constitutional statement, designed to serve as the basis for the intermediate period led by Sharaa. The statement has maintained a central role for Islamic law and guaranteed women’s rights and freedom of expression.
