Baath Party changes in Syria

The London based al-Sharq al-Awsat daily said that the leadership of the ruling Baath party in Syria has started the process of internal change of the party establishment from Aleppo, the second largest Syrian city following Damascus.

The paper added this change is in the framework of a plan to renew the Baath Party leaderships and will cover all party branches in other provinces.

In its Monday's issue, the paper quoted a well-informed Syrian source as saying that the key changes in the Baath Party come following decisions taken by the Baath party 9th regional congress. It added that these changes are made by committees which are in charge of studying conditions of the Baath Party branches in the provinces, adding that the change targeted in the first place the Baath party branch in the city of Aleppo where all members of the Baath Party branch leadership were changed except Mrs. Jamila Hijazi.

The paper added that concerning current changes in Syria, the Syrian communist party, led by Youssef al-Faisal called for lifting the state of emergency and canceling all "special" laws and strengthening the role played by the judiciary and strengthening the foundations of the civil society.