Authorities says the shake-up will strengthen safety and clear the best way for reconstruction.
Revealed On 19 Jul 2026
President Ahmed al-Sharaa has overhauled Syria’s safety and intelligence management, increasing the powers of his inside minister and putting in a brand new intelligence chief as a part of a broader shake-up of state safety our bodies.
The adjustments introduced on Sunday noticed Inside Minister Anas Khattab handed an extra position as head of the Nationwide Safety Bureau, which oversees Syria’s varied safety companies, whereas persevering with to run the inside ministry, reported the state information company SANA.
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Hussein al-Salamah was named the bureau’s deputy head, Mulham al-Shantout grew to become assistant inside minister for safety affairs and Abdul Qader Tahan was appointed head of the Basic Intelligence Service.
Syrian authorities described the reshuffle as a part of efforts to strengthen nationwide safety, promote stability and take away obstacles to reconstruction.
The Basic Intelligence Service is chargeable for gathering intelligence, producing assessments on home and international threats and countering espionage and terrorism.
Its new chief now sits legally underneath Khattab’s authority, consolidating oversight of Syria’s safety equipment underneath one of the vital highly effective officers in al-Sharaa’s authorities.
Omer Ozkizilcik, a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Syria Venture, informed Al Jazeera that the reshuffle displays an effort to formalise energy buildings carried over from al-Sharaa’s administration in Idlib, when Khattab oversaw each intelligence and policing duties that later overlapped with Salamah’s.
Syria’s transitional authorities underneath al-Sharaa was shaped a month after former President Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia in December 2024, ending many years of Assad household rule.
Al-Sharaa’s administration has sought to current itself as a unifying, reform-minded authorities whereas working to deliver Syria’s fragmented safety construction underneath central management.
The reshuffle comes after a turbulent few weeks for Syria’s safety companies. An explosion killed at least 10 people when it tore through a cafe close to the principle judicial complicated in Damascus on July 2.
5 days later, an individual was killed and 36 wounded when explosive gadgets hidden in a garbage bin and a parked automobile detonated within the capital as French President Emmanuel Macron met al-Sharaa on the presidential palace,
Syrian authorities said they arrested members of an ISIL-linked cell blamed for each assaults, tracing suspects by means of safety digital camera video.
Earlier this month, customs officers on the Iraqi border intercepted a cargo of missiles, rockets and drones hid in an oil tanker, which they mentioned was certain for Hezbollah, the Iran-aligned group in Lebanon. Hezbollah denied the allegation.
Throughout his go to, Macron, the primary main Western chief to go to since al-Sharaa established himself in Damascus, restored full diplomatic relations with Syria.
Days later, at a NATO summit in Turkiye, US President Donald Trump met al-Sharaa, and Washington announced it could take away Syria from its checklist of state sponsors of terrorism.
