The new rulers in Syria, who overthrew President Bashar Assad almost two weeks ago, appointed Assad Hasan Shibani as foreign minister.
The former state agency SANA announced this on the Telegram platform on Saturday. The DPA and AFP agencies reported on it.
Šibani was born in 1987 in Hasakah province, located in northeastern Syria. After the outbreak of the civil war in Syria in March 2011, he joined the opposition.
Assad took brutal action against the opposition forces and, with the support of Russia, controlled approximately two-thirds of the country’s territory until his fall. Nevertheless, the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which eventually ousted Assad, managed to establish a parallel administration in northwestern Syria in 2017, called the Salvation Government.
According to information from the DPA agency, Šibání headed the department for political affairs in this administration. He was active in the humanitarian field and in foreign affairs and established good relations with, among others, the United Nations.
He studied English language and literature at the University of Damascus and holds a master’s degree in political science and international relations.
This week he met with delegations from France and Germany who arrived in Damascus to establish contacts with the new Syrian authorities.
Bashar Assad fled Syria on the night of December 8 after the rebels led by HTS launched an unexpected offensive on November 27 and captured the two largest cities of Aleppo and Damascus in short succession.
