Syrian President Bashar Assad has appointed Mohammed Ghazi Jalali as the new head of the government following the parliamentary election in July, according to state media. Jalali, who is 55 years old, has been sanctioned by the European Union since October 2014 due to his involvement in the government’s violent actions during the Syrian conflict that started in 2011 and resulted in the deaths of almost half a million people. He was serving as the Communications Minister for around two years from August 2014, as reported by the state news agency SANA.
The previous government in Syria had been functioning in a temporary capacity after the parliamentary election. It remains uncertain how long it will take for Jalali to assemble a new Cabinet. Sanctions imposed by the European Union on Syria since 2011 encompass various restrictions, such as prohibiting oil imports, restricting investments, freezing central bank assets within the EU, and placing limits on the export of equipment and technology that could be utilized for suppressing civilians or monitoring their communications.