Assad Appoints Minister to Form New Cabinet for Syria
President Bashar al-Assad issued a decree on Wednesday that will see Syria’s minister of electricity, Imad Khamis, appointed prime minister of Syria, according to Syria’s state-run news agency, SANA.
Assad also tasked the incoming P.M. on Wednesday with forming a new cabinet. SANA gave no reason for the restructuring, but the move comes as Russia, one of Damascus’ major supporters, called for renewed peace talks aimed at a political transition for Syria.
This is the first time the president has formed a new government in the war-torn country since 2012, a year into the current conflict, Reuters reported. Khamis will replace current P.M. Wael al-Halqi, who has held the position since August 2012.
Khamis has been a member of Assad’s Baath Arab Socialist Party since 1977.
In 2012, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) listed Syria’s incoming P.M. as a Specially Designated National and imposed financial sanctions on him. That same year, the European Union sanctioned Khamis, stating that he “shares responsibility for the regime’s violent repression against the civilian population.”
Norway Approves Ground Forces to Syria
Norway’s parliament on Wednesday gave the go-ahead for the country to send troops, including special forces, to Syria.
Oslo’s government issued a statement following parliament’s authorization saying it will send troops to join the U.S.-led coalition in training Syrian opposition forces fighting the so-called Islamic State group, Reuters reported.
“Local forces (opposed to ISIS) are making more progress than we could have expected. It is therefore more on the agenda that coalition forces should be able to train, advise and give operational support on Syrian territory in their battle against ISIS,” defense minister Ine Eriksen Soereide said in the statement.
Some 60 Norwegian soldiers will be deployed to Jordan this summer, where they will provide training and support to Syrian opposition forces, according to the Associated Press.
Civilian Death Toll Rises in Northern Syria
Escalating violence in Syria’s northern provinces over the past two months has killed hundreds of civilians and more than 200 children, according to the U.K-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
In the 15 days since the start of the holy month of Ramadan, some 464 civilians were killed, including 118 children. More than half of the victims were killed in airstrikes carried out by the Syrian government or Russia, the Observatory said.
The monitoring group also claimed that at least 23 civilians, including five children, were killed in airstrikes carried out by the U.S.-led coalition.
In Aleppo, where airstrikes have more than tripled in the past three months, some 666 civilians have been killed since April 22, including 134 children, according to the Observatory.
In Raqqa, the de-facto capital of the Islamic State group, airstrikes in the past 48 hours killed at least 18 civilians, including five children, according to the BBC. It is still unclear who carried out the airstrikes, but both the Syrian government and the U.S.-led coalition have been advancing on ISIS territory over the past month.
Recommended Reads
- EurActiv: The Conflict in Syria Cripples the Soul, Not Just the Body
- The New York Times: The State Department’s Dissent Memo on Syria: An Explanation
- Al-Monitor: Why Syria’s Kurds are Cooperating With Russia
- Reuters: Trauma Hospitals in Syria Remain Open Despite War
- The Huffington Post: Jo Cox Tributes Include Extraordinary Photo In War-Torn Aleppo, Syria