Syrian President Bashar Assad formed a new government Saturday (June 23rd) while 40 people were killed in violence nationwide, AFP reported.
Riad Hijab was chosen as prime minister to lead the new government.
Less than two months after the country held parliamentary elections that the opposition boycotted, Assad issued a decree forming the new government, which includes 20 new faces. The leaders of the foreign, defence and interior ministry were unchanged.
At least 40 people were killed Saturday as government forces shelled opposition strongholds and clashed with opposition fighters in Homs, Hama, Deraa, Damascus, Idlib and Deir ez-Zor.
Ten government troops were killed when they attempted to desert in Damascus province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Officials in Turkey said one of its fighter jets may have violated Syrian airspace after officials in Syria confirmed the jet was shot down. Both countries are now searching for the two missing crew members of the Turkish F-4 Phantom jet, which was shot over the Mediterranean Sea Friday.
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READER COMMENTS
حسان الحداد
2012-6-26
The international position split into two camps; America and the West versus Russia and China. Compared with the US position regarding Libya and for Europe, the international community is unable to play a decisive role in the balance of power without a clear US decision. As for Russia, it is manipulating and blackmailing the Americans, the Arabs and the world as it adjusts its position according to the profit and loss accounts. When it realizes that the moment of the fall of the Syrian regime is becoming closer, it will sell it at auction.
سلطان عبيد
2012-6-26
The Syrian people showed their determination to oust the regime through their demonstration and protest, facing bullets with naked chests to defend their dignity and freedom, considering that the team of observers had shown that the Annan plan failed to prevent the killing machine to continue targeting the cities, villages and its provision of the most basic elements for the protection of the civilians sponsored by the United Nations. The Arab political effort witnessed a long phase of decay while the international community adopted the initiative of the Secretary-General Kofi Annan as a way out of the Syrian crisis, although he failed in bringing change at the field level in terms of the escalation of the dictatorial regime of al-Asad. The Syrian people pay dearly for the successive deadlines given by the international community to the Syrian regime, which encourages it to exercise more death, destruction and starvation. The international community and countries friendly to the Syrian people must reduce the size of the military, financial, technical and political support received by the dictatorial regime in Syria from the regional and international countries led by Iran and Russia, making it more difficult to process protection of the civilians by the free army inside the Syrian country, in addition to the failure of the international community to prevent such assistance that include these States and organizations sending their members from Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen to participate in the suppression of the defenseless Syrian people.