Syrian President Bashar Assad Approves New Government

Syrian President Bashar Assad has issued a decree that officially appoints a new government under Prime Minister Hussein Arnous. Arnous became prime minister last August, replacing Imad Khamis. He has been a caretaker prime minister since elections in May that gave Assad another seven-year term. The elections, in which Assad won 95% of the vote with a voter turnout of 78%, were panned internationally as neither fair nor free.

The incumbent ministers of defense, interior and foreign affairs will remain in their jobs. The new, 29 member government includes three women, according to The Associated Press.  It is the sixth government formed since the start of the deadly civil war in Syria in 2011.