DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria’s new transitional government was sworn in Saturday, 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-torn country.

The 23-member Cabinet, which is religiously and ethnically mixed, is the first in the country’s five-year transitional period and replaces the interim government formed shortly after Bashar Assad was removed from power in early December.

The Cabinet does not have a prime minister since, according to the temporary constitution signed by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa earlier this month, the government will have a secretary general.

The government includes new faces apart from the ministers of foreign affairs and defense, who have been kept in the posts they held in the interim government. Syria’s new Interior Minister Anas Khattab was until recently the head of the intelligence department.

“The formation of a new government today is a declaration of our joint will to build a new state,” Sharaa said in a speech marking the formation of the government.

Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra said his main goal will be to build a professional army “from the people and for the people.”

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