Expand / Collapse search
Watch TV
Menu

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

Syria

Assad overhauls Syrian Cabinet as country's economy tanks

Assad has replaced his oil, internal trade, social affairs, industry and labor ministers

Associated Press
Published
close
Fox News Flash top headlines for March 29 Video

Fox News Flash top headlines for March 29

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad replaced several Cabinet ministers Wednesday amid a sharp increase in prices and worsening economic conditions during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, state media reported.

The state news agency said Assad replaced the ministers of oil, internal trade, industry and social affairs and labor. SANA did not give a reason for the government reshuffle, but it comes amid harsh public criticism over rising prices and food shortages during Ramadan, when observant Muslims abstain from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk.

US LAUNCHES STRIKE IN SYRIA AFTER DRONE ATTACK

Syria’s economy hit its lowest point this year since the start of the conflict in 2011, with spiraling inflation, a currency plunge and sharp increase in food prices.

Bashar al-Assad

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has replaced several members of his Cabinet as the Middle Eastern nations economic situation continues to worsen. (Reuters)

It's the result of years of war, Western sanctions, widespread corruption and a three-year economic meltdown in neighboring Lebanon.

US LAUNCHES STRIKE IN SYRIA AFTER DRONE ATTACK

After a Feb. 6, earthquake hit Turkey and Syria and killed more than 50,000 people, including 6,000 in Syria, Damascus' ties with some Arab countries improved somewhat with aid from around the region flowing into the war-torn country.

Syria hopes that an improvement of relations with oil-rich Gulf Arab nations, that once supported the Syrian armed opposition, will help ease the economic crisis.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Last week, state Saudi television reported that the kingdom is in talks with Syria to reopen its embassy in the war-torn nation for the first time in a decade. Other Arab nations in the Persian Gulf, including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, reopened their embassies in Damascus in recent years.