Syria's new rulers name foreign minister amid push for international relations

Syria's new rulers have appointed a foreign minister, the official Syrian news agency (SANA) said on Saturday, as they seek to build international relations two weeks after Bashar al-Assad was ousted.

The ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step "comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people to establish international relations that bring peace and stability".

Shibani, a 37-year-old graduate of Damascus University, previously led the political department of a rebel government in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, the General Command said.

Syria's new de facto ruler, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has actively engaged with foreign delegations since assuming power, including hosting the U.N.'s Syria envoy and senior U.S. diplomats.

Sharaa has signaled a willingness to engage diplomatically with international envoys, saying his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development. He has said he is not interested in engaging in any new conflicts.

The United States, other Western powers and many Syrians were glad to see rebel groups led by Sharaa's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) topple Assad, but it is not clear whether the Islamist group will impose strict Islamic rule or show flexibility and move towards democracy. HTS was part of al Qaeda until Sharaa broke ties with it in 2016.

Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family's decades-long rule.

Forces under the command of Sharaa - better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani - installed a three-month caretaker government that had been ruling a rebel enclave in Idlib.

Washington designated Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, saying al Qaeda in Iraq had tasked him with overthrowing Assad's rule and establishing Islamic sharia law in Syria. U.S. officials said on Friday that Washington would remove a $10 million bounty on his head.

The war killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.

(Reporting by Hatem Maher, Khalil Ashawi and Ahmed Tolba; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Frances Kerry)