On the new Syrian government

Well-informed sources in Damascus said that Syrian President Hafez al-Assad on Tuesday told members of the Baath Party regional leadership of the decision to change the Syrian government two weeks after his presiding over an important meeting in which he criticized the government's performance and the inability of al-Zou'bi's government to implement the reform programs, presented by President al-Assad at the beginning of his fifth presidential term in March 1999.

The sources stated that nominating Miro came on the background that, "He is well-qualified in administration and his fame of being "very clean" and very well-known for fighting corruption.

The sources indicated that Miro's government will be announced "shortly" and that it will include a mixture of the "old generation and the new blood." As changes will be made on the ministries of supremacy, but Minister of Defense Lt. Gen. Mustafa Tlass, Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara and Interior Minister Muhammad Harba will keep their posts.

The sources indicated that Ambassador Adnan Omran will become the minister of information and that expectations say that the governor of Lattakia will be a minister of state. The Ministry of Culture will be assigned to Syrian literary figure Maha Qanout instead of Najah al-Attar.