Ahmed Al-Sharaa Announces Syria Government Reshuffle, Appoints Khaled Zaarour as Information Minister

Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa announced a series of government changes in presidential decrees published late at night by state news agency SANA, including appointing Khaled Zaarour as information minister and replacing Hamza Mustafa, who was moved to the foreign ministry.

“Syria's interim president moves his brother out of a top post in a government reshuffle Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has reshuffled several top government posts and removed his brother from a key position DAMASCUS, Syria -- DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria ’s interim leader reshuffled several top government posts on Saturday and removed his brother from a key position that had drawn accusations of nepotism as his administration struggles to unite a divided nation after a brutal civil war”

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The reshuffle is described as the first major government change since the ouster of Bashar al-Assad and comes around a year and a half into the five-year transitional period set out in Syria’s constitutional declaration.

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SANA reported that Bassel Sweidan was named agriculture minister and that he also leads a committee responsible for reaching settlement agreements with business figures linked to the Assad-era elite.

The decrees also replaced governors in the provinces of Homs, al-Quneitra, and Deir Ezzor, the eastern province where most of Syria’s oil fields are located.

No official explanation was provided for the changes, while protests and social media campaigns have appeared over worsening economic conditions and what critics describe as poor government performance.

ABC News reported that Syria’s interim leader reshuffled several top government posts on Saturday and removed his brother from a key position in Damascus that had drawn accusations of nepotism.

The AP account said President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s brother, Maher al-Sharaa, had served as secretary-general to the presidency in Damascus, and that in a decree on Saturday al-Sharaa appointed Abdul Rahman Badreddine al-Aama as his brother’s replacement, with SANA reporting the change.

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Al Jazeera said the reshuffle included replacing al-Sharaa’s brother as head of the presidential office, and it reported that al-Sharaa appointed former Homs Governor Abdul Rahman Badreddine al-Aama as secretary-general for the presidency.

Al Jazeera also quoted Resul Sardar Atas saying, “People had criticised the president that he had previously appointed all of his close friends to all of the ministerial positions,” as criticism followed al-Sharaa’s new government announced in March last year.

The same Al Jazeera report said the reshuffle was the first since the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 and came about a year and a half into the five-year transitional period set in Syria’s constitutional declaration.

Alongside the ministerial changes, TRT عربي reported that Al-Shara' issued decrees appointing governors including Ahmed Ali Mustafa as governor of Latakia Governorate, Ziad Fawaz al-Ayish as governor of Deir ez-Zor Governorate, Marhaf Khaled al-Na'san as governor of Homs, and Ghassan Elias al-Sayyid Ahmed as governor of Quneitra.

Al Jazeera’s account tied the governor replacements to the eastern province where most of Syria’s oilfields are located, while also saying no official reason was given for the changes.

Al Jazeera further reported that besides a government reshuffle, al-Sharaa’s government since last month has begun trials of Assad-era officials after criticism over delays in launching a promised transitional justice process following Syria’s 14-year war.

It said that on April 26, trial proceedings opened in Damascus for Atef Najib, the former head of political security in southern Syria’s Deraa province, accused of overseeing a violent crackdown on protesters during the 2011 uprising.

The report added that charged in absentia were al-Assad and his brother Maher, former commander of the Syrian military’s 4th Armoured Division, accused along with other former high-ranking security officials of killings, torture, extortion and drug trafficking.