Syria
Deadly blast rocks Damascus
A bomb blast at a crowded cafe in central Damascus killed at least five people and wounded 16 others on Thursday, Syrian state media reported.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued a decree forming a new government under Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali, the Syrian state news agency (SANA) reported on Monday.
Faisal Mekdad, Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued a decree forming a new government under Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali, the Syrian state news agency (SANA) reported on Monday.
The new cabinet sees new appointments in the ministries of foreign affairs, finance and electricity among others, and replaces an outgoing administration which has been serving in a caretaker role since parliamentary elections in mid-July.
Another decree appointed ex-foreign minister Faisal Mekdad as Syria's Vice President.
Al-Jalali served as communications minister from 2014-2016. He has been subject to EU sanctions since 2014 for what the bloc called his "responsibility for the regime's violent repression of the civilian population".
According to U.N. figures, at least 350,000 people have been killed in Syria's civil war, which erupted in 2011 from an uprising against Assad's rule.
Reporting by Clauda Tanios and Enas Alashray
A bomb blast at a crowded cafe in central Damascus killed at least five people and wounded 16 others on Thursday, Syrian state media reported.
Syria's foreign minister said during a visit to Beirut on Thursday that Damascus was open to meeting the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah "if interests require it", Lebanon's state news agency reported.
Syria's foreign minister travelled to Beirut on Thursday to meet Lebanese government leaders, in his first visit there since U.S. President Donald Trump raised the possibility of Syrian forces combating Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
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