Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad approved a new cabinet headed by Hussein Arnous, less than two weeks after the caretaker-premier was tasked with forming a new government.

In a decree on Tuesday, Assad approved the cabinet.

The final announcement about the new 21-member cabinet came in a tweet by the Syrian Presidency, with no significant changes from the previous cabinet headed by his predecessor Imad Khamis.

The key portfolios of defense, foreign affairs, interior affairs, and finance remained unchanged from the previous government, while new faces were introduced in the ministries of information, social affairs, domestic trade and consumer protection.

The new information minister is Boutros Hallaq, who also holds the position of vice president at Damascus University, according to local media.

Amru Salem, named the new minister for domestic trade and consumer protection, previously held the portfolio of the minister of communications and an adviser to President Assad.

The third new face is Muhammad Seif Al-Deen, appointed as the minister of social affairs. He formerly held the position of deputy minister of public works and housing as well as the director of social affairs in the same ministry.

The cabinet reshuffle comes almost a month after Assad, who was voted back to power with a thumping majority in May, took the oath of office as the president for a fourth seven-year term.

The country’s constitution requires the cabinet to be dissolved with the end of the president’s term.

Source: Agencies