DAMASCUS, (SANA) – President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday chaired a Cabinet meeting after the new Ministers were sworn in before President al-Assad in the presence of Prime Minister Dr. Wael al-Halqi and the rest of the Ministers.

During the meeting, President al-Assad said that the current circumstances in Syria caused citizens to have greater hopes in terms of what they expect of the government, which gives  the ministries and state establishments an extra responsibility that must be transformed into positive work energy in order to achieve all that could be achieved of citizens' hopes and relieve them.

He added that citizens also have the responsibility of participating from their positions and fulfilling their duties in order to realize group action, whether this is in each establishment or between the state and the citizen to alleviate the effects of the crisis.

President al-Assad affirmed that the sides targeting Syria worked methodically to destroy the country's infrastructure, and in that they target the Syrian people first and foremost and attempt to destroy the mental structure of citizens, which requires everyone great efforts to confront.

For his part, Premier al-Halqi thanked President al-Assad for his confidence, affirming the government's determination to continue working with all it has to provide citizens' livelihood needs and the requirements of supporting the Armed Forces in their work to eliminate terrorist groups.

The new Ministers are Minister of Public Works Hussein Arnous, Minister of Labor Hassan Hijazi, Agriculture and Agrarian Reform Minister Ahmad al-Qadri, Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Sleiman al-Abbas, Finance Minister Ismael Ismael, and Minister of Social Affairs Kinda al-Shammat.

H. Sabbagh/ Mazen