Syria's interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa attends an interview with Reuters at the presidential palace in Damascus, Syria, on March 10. (Khalil Ashawi/Reuters)
DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria’s interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa announced a new cabinet on Saturday, reflecting a more diverse range of Syrians amid international pressure for inclusivity but set within a transitional system that ultimately keeps power tightly within his own hands.
The president’s office named 22 ministers, many of whom were technocrats. The most powerful portfolios — the foreign, defense and interior ministries — remained under the purview of Sharaa’s confidants.
Only one woman was among the appointees, Social Affairs Minister Hind Kabawat, who is a Christian. Raed al-Saleh, the head of the White Helmets, the volunteer organization that worked to pull survivors from the rubble of airstrikes during Syria’s 14-year-long civil war, was appointed minister for disaster, emergencies and environment.
“We witness the birth of a new phase of our national journey,” Sharaa said at a ceremony at the presidential palace to mark the new cabinet’s appointment, saying that the first new government since the ouster of former president Bashar al-Assad “reflects our shared will to build a new state.”
U.S. and European officials have said they are closely monitoring the new leader’s commitment to diversity as they weigh releasing Syria from the Western sanctions that targeted Assad’s regime. When Sharaa’s forces swept into power in December, he temporarily filled his ministries with Sunni Islamist officials from his regional quasi-state in the northern province of Idlib, promising a new and more inclusive cabinet in three months.
But a new constitutional declaration earlier this month has compounded concerns over limits to Sharaa’s powers as he leads Syria through its political transition. Laying out the framework for governance for the next five years, it nixed with the role of prime minister and gave Sharaa the ability to appoint judges and members of the legislature.
“We need more than one person at the top,” said Rim Turkmani, a senior research fellow at the London School of Economics. “The setup that was determined by interim constitution already undermined the incoming government,” she said. A single woman in the cabinet is “not inclusive,” she said.
Having a separate prime minister to steer the government is a “missed opportunity” especially when it comes to lobbying for sanctions relief, she added.
The European Union has suspended sanctions on some key sectors, including energy and transportation, but restrictions that remain are hindering foreign investment and postwar reconstruction desperately needed in the war-shattered country.
Bloodshed earlier this month on the Syrian coast, when clashes between government forces and armed groups from the Alawite minority loyal to the former regime spiraled into sectarian bloodletting, have underscored calls for a representative, civilian-led government.
In his speech on Saturday, Sharaa said the new government would focus on rebuilding state institutions, addressing Syria’s economic woes, promoting fundamental rights and freedoms, and working on the education and health sectors.
Including members of Syria’s Alawite, Kurdish, Druze and Christian minorities as well as other Syrians outside Sharaa’s Sunni Islamist milieu, the cabinet may help placate Western demands for broader representation, said Radwan Ziadeh, a senior fellow at the Arab Center Washington.
“It’s inclusive. It’s focused on looking forward rather than looking at the conflict of the past,” he said.
Others saw it as a step in the process. “The most important thing is that the process of change in Syria begins and that the transitional phase moves forward,” said Alia Mansour, a Syrian columnist.
Zakaria Zakaria and Suzan Haidamous contributed to this report.