Syrian president re-shuffles cabinet

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday issued a decree reshuffling the cabinet of Wael Al-Halqi. The decree named Hussein Farzat as Minister of Housing and Construction Development, Hussein Arnous as Minister of Public Works, Hassan Hijazi as Minister of Labor, Ahmad Al-Qadri as Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform. Al-Assad also appointed Suleiman Al-Abbas as Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Ismael Ismael as Finance Minister, Dr. Kinda al-Shammat as Minister of Social Affairs, according to the state-run news agency, SANA. The Cabinet members who were dismissed were Mohammed Julailati who served as minister of finance, Subhi Al-Abdullah who held the portfolio of agriculture, Safwan Al-Assaf who was minster of housing and development, Saeed Huneidi who held the oil post, Jassem Zakaria who was in charge of social affairs and labor, Hussein Farzat who was minister of state. Te latter was named in the reshuffle as responsible for housing and construction development. The president also issued another decree establishing two ministries; Ministry of Social Affairs and Ministry of Labor.