AFP

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad formed a new government on Wednesday, two months after his reelection, leaving key ministries untouched as a brutal war continues to ravage his country.
The new line-up includes 11 new ministers, but leaves Prime Minister Wael al-Halaqi, Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and Defence Minister General Fahd al-Freij in their posts.
The ministers of interior, justice, religious affairs, information and presidential affairs are also among those unaffected by the changes.
Among the new faces is Hassan al-Nuri, who will become minister of administrative development after his failed election run against Assad in this year's June 3 presidential vote.
Assad won the election, which was Syria's first multi-candidate presidential contest and came three years into its civil war, with 88.7 percent of the vote.
Most of the new ministers were in economic postings, in a potential nod to the dire economic straits in which Syria finds itself after more than three years of war and the deaths of 190,000 people.
The new line-up includes the creation of the post of minister of administrative development, and replaces the ministers of external commerce, hydraulic resources, transport, housing, economy, communication and health among others.