NNA - Syrian President Bashar Assad has changed seven ministers in his cabinet, the official SANA news agency reported on Saturday, without saying why. None of the key portfolios was affected.


AFP reported the agency saying Assad had decided to split the ministry of labor and social affairs into two, and brought in a woman, Kinda Shmat, to head the latter. Hassan Hijazi becomes labor minister.


Sleiman Abbas takes the oil and mineral resources portfolio, and Ismail Ismail becomes finance minister. Hussein Farzat gets housing and urban development, Ahmad al-Qadri goes to agriculture and public works goes to Hussein Arnus.