Home
Discover Islam
Quran Recitations
Lectures
Fatwa
Articles
Fiqh
E-Books
Women
Boys & Girls 
Articles
Bashar al-Assad, Syria's president, has formed a new cabinet two weeks after sacking the country's government amid unprecedented protests against his rule.
Assad also ordered the release of hundreds of protesters detained over the past couple of weeks but said those who committed crimes "against the nation and the citizens" would remain in jail.
Adel Safar, a former agriculture minister, will lead the new government while veteran diplomat Walid al-Moualem remains as foreign minister, Syria's state news agency reported.
The announcement follows a deal allowing Syria's army to enter the restive coastal city of Baniyas and claims by human rights groups that several people detained by security forces had been tortured.
Al Jazeera's Rula Amin, reporting from Damascus, the capital, said people were waiting to see if the pledge to release all the political prisoners will be fulfilled.
"This is one of the demands of the protesters to release all the prisoners. Also people are watching how the government will be dealing with the protesters in tomorrow's protests," she said.
Assad on Thursday appealed for calm in a meeting with a delegation from the city of Daraa, which has been the focal point for anti-government protests.
Our correspondent said: "We spoke to members of the delegation that met with the ... president, and they said that the meeting went well. But they won't elaborate on whether a deal has been reached. It seems like there are some fine details that need to be worked out."
Protests demands
Amin said the protesters had told the president to give them a deadline when their demands will be met.
"Some of their demands are specific to Daraa and others are to do with the rest of Syria [such as] more political freedom, the right to have peaceful protests and the release of all the prisoners that have been detained in the past three months.
"What the government wants is an end to the protests, and even if it acknowledges their right to protest it should be done peacefully. The government wants to put a stop to vandalism and attacks to public property.
"It seems from the people in Daraa that the government is seriously trying to contain [the situation in] Daraa because that is where it all started. If they manage to calm the situation in Daraa, the government believes it will be able to contain the situation throughout Syria."
PHOTO CAPTION
Syrian ethnic Kurds demonstrate after Friday prayers in the Syrian town of Qamishli April 8, 2011.
Al-Jazeera
