Al-Sharaa of Syria has also changed the leadership of security and intelligence | Story

The government says the shake-up will strengthen security and pave the way for reconstruction.

President Ahmed al-Sharaa has reshuffled Syria’s security and intelligence leadership, expanded the powers of his interior minister and installed a chief of communications as part of a major shake-up of the government’s security forces.

The reshuffle announced on Sunday saw Interior Minister Anas Khattab reassigned as head of the National Security Bureau, which oversees it. Syria various security agencies, while continuing to run the interior ministry, state news agency SANA said.

Hussein al-Salamah was appointed deputy head of the agency, Mulham al-Shantout became assistant minister of the interior for security and Abdul Qader Tahan was appointed head of the General Intelligence Service.

Syrian officials described the change as one way to strengthen national security, promote stability and remove obstacles to reconstruction.

The General Intelligence Service is responsible for gathering intelligence, analyzing domestic and foreign threats and countering espionage and terrorism.

Their new chief now officially resides under Khattab’s regime, including overseeing the Syrian security forces under one of the most powerful al-Sharaa government officials.

Omer Ozkizilcik, non-executive director of the Atlantic Council’s Syria Project, told Al Jazeera that the change reflected an effort to establish a power controlled by al-Sharaa’s leadership in Idlib, where Khattab oversaw intelligence and police operations that later joined Salamah.

Syria’s transitional government led by al-Sharaa was established a month after former President Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia in December 2024, ending decades of rule by the Assad family.

Al-Sharaa’s government wants to present itself as a unified, reform-minded government while working to centralize Syria’s security.

The change comes after several weeks of turmoil in the Syrian security system. An The explosion killed at least 10 people when it tore through the cafe near the main court in Damascus on July 2.

Five days later, one person was killed and 36 injured when explosives hidden in a garbage bill and a parked car detonated in the capital when French President Emmanuel Macron met with al-Sharaa at the presidential palace,

Syrian authorities he said arrested members of the ISIL-linked cell they accused of both, tracking the suspects through security camera video.

Earlier this month, customs officials at the Iraqi border intervention the deployment of missiles, rockets and drones hidden in a fuel tank, allegedly destined for Hezbollah, an Iranian-allied group in Lebanon. Hezbollah denied the allegations.

During his visit, Macron, the first major Western leader to visit since al-Sharaa settled in Damascus, restored relations with Syria.

A few days later, at the NATO meeting in Turkey, US President Donald Trump met with al-Sharaa, and Washington. he announced it will remove Syria from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.