Officials disclosed from the Syrian capital Damascus that a cabinet reshuffle is getting closer to be announced, expecting the heavy storm of the changes to “reach the prime minister as well.”
Political sources confirmed this week the expected reshuffle, The Daily Star reported.
According to the sources, President Bashar Assad and the Baath Party’s Regional Command will handpick a new prime minister to replace Mohammed Mustafa Miro, appointed in March 2000 by the late President Hafez Assad.
Names of potential replacements have not yet been disclosed, but sources said that the cabinet will receive a face-lift.
The Beirut-based paper quoted the unnamed sources as saying “many ministers will be changed, but some of the old-timers who have been in previous cabinets will remain.”
The defense minister Mustafa Tlass and the foreign minister Farouk Al-Sharaa are certain to retain their posts, sources said.
Earlier this summer, Assad had ordered the drafting of a list of 1,500 names of potential candidates for ministerial duties, then condensed this to 400. The list is remarkable in that it is mostly civilians under the age of 50, with post-graduate degrees from foreign universities, and not officers or military leaders, said the paper – Albawaba.com
