Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Tuesday that the current situation the country is passing through prompts citizens to have greater hope in the government.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Tuesday that the current situation the country is passing through prompts citizens to have greater hope in the government.

During a cabinet meeting after new ministers were sworn in before Assad and Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi, the Syrian leader said this hope “gives the ministries and state establishments an extra responsibility” in order to get over the ongoing crisis, official news agency, SANA, reported.

President Assad noted that it is the Syrian citizen’s responsibility to fulfill their duties in order to reach a team work, whether this is in each establishment or between the state and the citizen to alleviate the effects of the crisis.

In this context, the Syrian leader stressed that the sides targeting Syria have been working methodically to destroy the country's infrastructure, “and in that they target the Syrian people first and foremost.”
President Assad reshuffled the cabinet on Saturday, as he named seven new ministers.

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, according to SANA.