Syrians are still surprisingly upbeat
Our pioneering poll reveals much optimism, but also big sectarian divisions
Presenting his new government on March 29th, Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria’s interim president, called it “a declaration of our shared will to build a new state”. It certainly looked that way. The government Mr Sharaa brought to Damascus in December after he toppled Bashar al-Assad was an all-male group of Sunni Islamists and former jihadists. In the new one, loyalists from his civil-war days still hold the top jobs, but technocrats have replaced some obscurantists. There is a minister from each of Syria’s minorities: an Alawite (the sect to which Mr Assad belongs), a Christian, a Druze and a Kurd. The sole woman minister does not wear the veil.
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This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Divided but hopeful”
From the April 5th 2025 edition
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