Assad Replaces Security Body

LONDON [MENL] -- Syrian President Bashar Assad, in what was seen as a
departure from the party system, has restructured his panel of security
advisers.
Assad has dissolved the Office of National Security and replaced it with
the National Security Council. Unlike the Office of National Security, the
new panel would not be manned by appointees from the ruling Baath Party.
Instead, the council would be civilian.