Syria Reshuffles Cabinet for First Time Since Assad’s Fall
Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa issued a series of late-night presidential decrees on Saturday, May 9, overhauling key ministerial posts and provincial governorships in the first cabinet reshuffle since the ouster of former President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. The Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa changed who is in charge of some ministries. He also changed who is in charge of some provinces. The changes, published by state news agency SANA, included the removal of al-Sharaa’s own brother from a senior presidential role that had become a focal point for critics of the new administration.
The most prominent appointment in the reshuffle was the replacement of Maher al-Sharaa — the president’s brother — as secretary-general of the Syrian presidency. Abdul Rahman Badreddine al-Aama, previously the governor of Homs province, was named as his replacement, according to state news agency SANA. The state news agency SANA said this. It was not immediately clear what position, if any, Maher al-Sharaa would hold going forward. He is a physician who had previously served as Syria’s interim health minister. ABC NewsABC News
Maher’s initial appointment had drawn criticism from opponents who accused the administration of favouring nepotism over merit. That appointment had triggered parallels with the practices under former President Bashar Assad and his father and predecessor, Hafez Assad, during whose rule family members were placed in influential positions. Bashar Assad’s own brother, Maher Assad, commanded the Syrian military’s 4th Armored Division — a unit accused by opposition groups of killings, torture, and drug trafficking. New ArabABC News
A source close to the president said the reshuffle was aimed at “rebuilding trust with Syrians.” Radio Free Syria
The shake-up extended well beyond the presidential office. Al-Sharaa appointed Khaled Zaarour, an academic who was most recently dean of the faculty of media at Damascus University, as the new information minister. Zaarour replaces Hamza Mustafa, a former media executive who headed the private Syria TV network before becoming information minister. Mustafa was not removed from government entirely — he was reassigned to the foreign ministry, according to Reuters. ABC News
Bassel Sweidan was named agriculture minister, replacing Amjad Badr. Sweidan also heads a committee tasked with reaching settlement agreements with business tycoons linked to the Assad-era elite. That dual role places him at the centre of one of the transitional government’s most sensitive economic files: negotiating with the oligarch class that thrived under the previous regime. Free Malaysia Today
A second brother, Hazem al-Sharaa, who served as vice president of the Supreme Council for Economic Development, also stepped down from that role as part of the reshuffle. Reuters had previously reported that Hazem had been overseeing Syria’s secret economic restructuring committee. The departures of two brothers from senior posts in a single round of decrees represent the most significant move yet by Ahmad al-Sharaa to publicly distance his administration from the family-rule model that defined the Assad era. Radio Free Syria
In October 2025, al-Sharaa had ordered the closure of his elder brother Jamal al-Sharaa’s commercial office in Damascus, seized luxury vehicles associated with him, and warned the family against using presidential connections for personal gain. That move was framed at the time as the first test of his anti-corruption campaign. Radio Free Syria
At the provincial level, new governors were appointed for Homs, Latakia, Deir el-Zour, and Quneitra provinces. The change in Deir el-Zour carries particular strategic weight. Deir Ezzor is the eastern province where most of Syria’s oil fields are located. Control and management of those fields is central to any economic recovery plan the transitional government pursues. ABC NewsFree Malaysia Today
No official reason was given for the changes, but protests and social media campaigns have emerged in recent months over worsening economic conditions and what critics describe as poor government performance. Syria’s economy remains severely weakened after nearly 14 years of civil war, with widespread unemployment, infrastructure damage across most provinces, and an ongoing currency crisis constraining daily life for ordinary Syrians. New Arab
The Syrian Observer, a Damascus-based political analysis outlet, argued in February 2026 that structural conditions made meaningful improvement from any reshuffle unlikely. “The absence of institutional balance, oversight, and accountability deprives governance of its corrective mechanisms,” the outlet wrote, adding that the pattern “mirrors the executive structures of the Assad era, where reshuffles occurred periodically without altering the underlying distribution of power.” The Syrian Observer
Background
Ahmad al-Sharaa led an insurgent offensive that ousted Bashar Assad in December 2024 after a nearly 14-year civil war. The Syrian transitional cabinet was created in March 2025, following Assad’s removal. The reshuffle comes around a year and a half into the five-year transitional period set out in Syria’s constitutional declaration. Al-Sharaa was formally named interim president in January 2025. Syria entered 2026 with a continuing risk of violence and instability, and the interim government does not have complete control over all armed forces operating within its borders. The UN Security Council’s December 2025 decision to delist al-Sharaa, Interior Minister Anas Khattab, and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham from its sanctions list signalled unified international support for Syria’s interim government. ABC News + 4
Regional and Global Impact
The reshuffle arrives as Syria’s transitional government navigates a dense set of international relationships that were slowly rebuilt over the past year. The European Union announced plans to fully resume its 1978 cooperation agreement with Syria and begin formal talks on strengthening economic and security ties, with those talks expected to begin on May 11. The removal of al-Sharaa family members from prominent posts may strengthen Syria’s case to Western partners who have conditioned deeper economic engagement on governance reforms. Security Council Report
The appointment of new governors in Deir el-Zour also carries regional implications. The province borders Iraq and has historically been a corridor for armed groups. Asserting stronger administrative control there — alongside the oil revenue implications — will be watched closely by neighbouring governments and by international energy interests exploring Syria’s post-war reconstruction.
What Happens Next
The EU’s formal talks with Damascus on economic and security ties are scheduled to open on May 11. The EU and Damascus will discuss security issues. Syria’s People’s Assembly, formed in late 2025, remains tasked with drafting a new constitution — a process whose timeline has not been formally confirmed. Al-Sharaa has repeatedly linked economic development to social stability, and the government must begin to make tangible progress on the ground where most Syrians feel there has been little to show. Whether the new agriculture minister’s committee reaches any settlement agreements with Assad-era business figures is expected to be an early test of the reshuffled government’s economic credibility. No date has been set for further cabinet changes.
