The announcement was made just in time to meet a self-imposed deadline to form an interim government in March, almost four months after the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham deposed former president Bashar al-Assad in a largely bloodless military offensive and installed Sharaa as leader.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa announced a transitional government on Saturday, appointing 23 ministers in a broadened cabinet seen as a key milestone in the transition from decades of Assad family rule and to improving Syria's ties with the West.

Syria’s new transitional government has been sworn in nearly four months after the Assad family was removed from power and as the new authorities in Damascus work to bring back stability to the war-ton country.