On Monday, Assad carried out a cabinet reshuffle, changing nine ministers. Notably, the new interior minister was appointed to replace Mohammad Shaar, who had been in the position since the early days of the Syrian crisis, and the Directorate of the National Reconciliation was created to substitute the Ministry of the Interior. Moreover, Assad appointed the new mayor of Damascus. On Thursday, the new cabinet ministers were sworn in in the presence of the president.
"All the Syrian people, mainly the security forces and all those related to them, have been suffering … They have the right to see something better and it is our duty to show them the results of our work, particularly, our fight against corruption," Assad said during a cabinet session, as quoted by his press service.
Assad added that all the manifestations of a government’s ineffectiveness, be it embezzlement or the decrease in quality of public services, led to the dissemination of the "culture of decay and chaos" and the decomposition of the society as a whole.
That is why many believe that terrorism and corruption are two sides of the same coin, according to the Syrian president.
Since 2011, Syria has been suffering from a military conflict exacerbated by the activities of terror groups that brought the country to the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe.
