Hong Kong reshuffles Cabinet, appoints 5 new ministers

Hong Kong on Wednesday appointed five new principal officials in a Cabinet reshuffle, with new appointments for the ministers overseeing mainland affairs, civil service, financial services and home affairs, as well as innovation and technology.

The reshuffle, approved by the central Chinese government in Beijing and announced by China's State Council, came on recommendations by Hong Kong's leader, Carrie Lam.

“I have started to map out the strategies for rebooting Hong Kong after the pandemic,” Lam said at a news conference, referring to the coronavirus. “A major goal of this reshuffle is to help Hong Kong to get out of this difficult situation as soon as possible.”

Chief Executive Carrie Lam speaks during a news conference to announce the newly appointed principal officials Wednesday, April 22, 2020, in Hong Kong. Hong Kong on Wednesday appointed five new principal officials in a cabinet reshuffle, with new appointments for the ministers overseeing mainland affairs, civil service, financial services, home affairs as well as innovation and technology. (AP PhotoKin Cheung)

Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous Chinese territory, has confirmed 1,030 cases of the coronavirus, including four deaths. On Tuesday, it announced a second two-week extension on measures that include a ban on public gatherings of more than four people and the shutting down of entertainment venues.

Based on the new appointments, Director of Immigration Eric Tsang will replace Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Patrick Nip.

The reshuffle comes after Nip publicly apologized on Monday for conflicting statements by the government on the status and powers of Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong,

From right, Secretary for Home Affairs Caspar Tsui Ying-wai, Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai, Chief Executive Carrie Lam, Secretary for civil service Patrick Nip Tak-kuen, Secretary for Innovation and Technology Alfred Sit Wing-hang and Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu line up during a news conference in Hong Kong, Wednesday, April 22, 2020, to announce the new appointed principal officials. Hong Kong reshuffles cabinet, with five new minister appointments. Hong Kong on Wednesday appointed five new principal officials in a cabinet reshuffle, with new appointments for the ministers overseeing mainland affairs, civil service, financial services, home affairs as well as innovation and technology. (AP PhotoKin Cheung)

Nip remains in Lam’s Cabinet, taking over as secretary for the civil service from Joshua Law. Lam said the Cabinet reshuffle was unrelated to Nip’s public apology.

James Lau, the secretary for financial services and the treasury, will be replaced by Christopher Hui, the executive director of the financial services development council. Nicholas Yang, secretary for innovation and technology, will by replaced by the current electrical and mechanical services director, Alfred Sit.

The undersecretary for labor and welfare, Caspar Tsui, will now be secretary for home affairs, replacing Lau Kong-wah.

From left, Chief Executive Carrie Lam, Secretary for civil service Patrick Nip Tak-kuen, Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai, Secretary for Innovation and Technology Alfred Sit Wing-hang and Secretary for Home Affairs Caspar Tsui Ying-wai attend a news conference to announce the new appointed principal officials, Wednesday, April 22, 2020, in Hong Kong. Hong Kong on Wednesday appointed five new principal officials in a cabinet reshuffle, with new appointments for the ministers overseeing mainland affairs, civil service, financial services, home affairs as well as innovation and technology. (AP PhotoKin Cheung)

From right, Secretary for Home Affairs Caspar Tsui Ying-wai, Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai, Chief Executive Carrie Lam, Secretary for civil service Patrick Nip Tak-kuen, Secretary for Innovation and Technology Alfred Sit Wing-hang and Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu line up during a news conference in Hong Kong, Wednesday, April 22, 2020 to announce the new appointed principal officials. Hong Kong on Wednesday appointed five new principal officials in a Cabinet reshuffle, with new appointments for the ministers overseeing mainland affairs, civil service, financial services and home affairs, as well as innovation and technology. (AP PhotoKin Cheung)

Chief Executive Carrie Lam speaks during a news conference to announce the newly appointed principal officials Wednesday, April 22, 2020, in Hong Kong. Hong Kong on Wednesday appointed five new principal officials in a cabinet reshuffle, with new appointments for the ministers overseeing mainland affairs, civil service, financial services, home affairs as well as innovation and technology. (AP PhotoKin Cheung)

Chief Executive Carrie Lam, left, and Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai, attend a news conference in Hong Kong, Wednesday, April 22, 2020 to announce the new appointed principal officials. Hong Kong on Wednesday appointed five new principal officials in a cabinet reshuffle, with new appointments for the ministers overseeing mainland affairs, civil service, financial services, home affairs as well as innovation and technology. (AP PhotoKin Cheung)

From right; Secretary for Home Affairs Caspar Tsui Ying-wai, Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai, Chief Executive Carrie Lam, Secretary for Civil Service Patrick Nip Tak-kuen, Secretary for Innovation and Technology Alfred Sit Wing-hang and Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu line up during a news conference in Hong Kong, Wednesday, April 22, 2020 to announce the new appointed principal officials. Hong Kong reshuffles cabinet, with five new minister appointments. Hong Kong on Wednesday appointed five new principal officials in a cabinet reshuffle, with new appointments for the ministers overseeing mainland affairs, civil service, financial services, home affairs as well as innovation and technology. (AP PhotoKin Cheung)

From right, Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai, Chief Executive Carrie Lam and Secretary for civil service Patrick Nip Tak-kuen, line up during a news conference in Hong Kong, Wednesday, April 22, 2020 to announce the new appointed principal officials. Hong Kong on Wednesday appointed five new principal officials in a cabinet reshuffle, with new appointments for the ministers overseeing mainland affairs, civil service, financial services, home affairs as well as innovation and technology. (AP PhotoKin Cheung)

ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — Clashes between government and Kurdish forces in a contested area in Syria's northern city of Aleppo intensified Thursday after Syrian authorities ordered civilians to evacuate.

The authorities opened a corridor for civilian evacuations for a second day and tens of thousands fled.

The government of Aleppo province gave residents until 1 p.m. local time to evacuate in coordination with the army. State news agency SANA, citing the army, said the military would begin “targeted operations” against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid half an hour after that deadline.

The military later issued a series of maps with the areas under evacuation order.

An Associated Press journalist at the scene heard sporadic sounds of shelling as civilians streamed out of the area Thursday morning. More than 142,000 people have been displaced across the province, according to the Aleppo Central Response Committee.

“There’s a large percentage of them with difficult medical issues, elderly people, women, and children,” said Mohammad Ali, operations director with the Syrian Civil Defense in Aleppo.

Kurdish forces said at least 12 civilians were killed in the Kurdish-majority neighborhoods, while government officials reported at least nine civilians have been killed in the surrounding government-controlled areas in the fighting that broke out Tuesday. Dozens more on both sides have been wounded. It was not clear how many fighters were killed on each side.

Each side has accused the other of deliberately targeting civilian neighborhoods and infrastructure, including ambulance crews and hospitals.

Clashes intensified in the afternoon, with continuous exchanges of shelling and drone strikes, and tanks could be seen rolling into the contested neighborhoods. The SDF-affiliated Internal Security Forces said they had “destroyed two armored vehicles and inflicted casualties on the attackers” as they advanced.

Aleppo governor Azzam al-Gharib, meanwhile, said Thursday evening that “a large number” of SDF fighters had defected or fled. Late in the evening, as clashes subsided, government forces began to deploy in largely-abandoned neighborhoods where the fighting had taken place.

St. Ephrem Syrian Orthodox Church in Aleppo city was hosting about 100 people who had fled the fighting. Parishioners donated mattresses, blankets and food, priest Adai Maher said.

“As soon as the problems started and we heard the sounds (of clashes), we opened our church as a shelter for people who are fleeing their homes," he said.

Among them was Georgette Lulu, who said her family is planning to travel to the city of Hasakeh in SDF-controlled northeast Syria when the security situation allows.

“There was a lot of bombing and loud noises and a shell landed next to our house,” she said. “I’ve been through these circumstances a lot so I don’t get frightened, but my niece was really afraid so we had to come to the church.”

Hassan Nader, a representative of the Ministry of Social Affairs in Aleppo said about 4,000 were staying in shelters in the city while tens of thousands had gone to other areas of the province, and the ministry was working with NGOs to supply them with food, medicine and other necessities.

The clashes come amid an impasse in political negotiations between the central state and the SDF.

The leadership in Damascus under interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa signed a deal in March with the SDF, which controls much of the northeast, for it to merge with the Syrian army by the end of 2025. There have been disagreements on how it would happen. In April, scores of SDF fighters left Sheikh Maqsoud and Achrafieh as part of the deal.

Officials from the central government and SDF met again on Sunday in Damascus, but government officials said that no tangible progress had been made.

Some of the factions that make up the new Syrian army, formed after the fall of former President Bashar Assad in a rebel offensive in December 2024, were previously Turkey-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

In the city of Qamishli in the Kurdish-controlled northeast, thousands of protesters gathered Thursday, chanting, “SDF, we are with you until death.”

Sawsan Khalil, a protester in Qamishli who was displaced from Afrin in Aleppo province in a 2018 Turkish offensive against Kurdish forces there, called for the international community “to feel for the Syrian people who have been killed for no reason” in Aleppo.

Izzeddin Gado, co-chair of the Qamishli City Council accused the government forces of “following a foreign and regional agenda from Turkey.”

The SDF has for years been the main U.S. partner in Syria in fighting against the Islamic State group, but Turkey considers the SDF a terrorist organization because of its association with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a long-running insurgency in Turkey. A peace process is now underway.

Despite the long-running U.S. support for the SDF, the Trump administration in the U.S. has also developed close ties with al-Sharaa’s government and has pushed the Kurds to implement the March deal.

A U.S. State Department official said in a statement Thursday that U.S. envoy Tom Barrack was trying to facilitate dialogue between the two sides.

Barrack later posted on X, “Just this past week, we stood on the threshold of successfully concluding the March 10, 2025 integration agreement,” a goal that he said remains “eminently achievable.”

“Together with our allies and responsible regional partners, we stand ready to facilitate efforts to de-escalate tensions and to afford Syria and its people a renewed opportunity to choose the path of dialogue over division,” he said.

Turkey’s Ministry of National Defense said Thursday that the “operation is being carried out entirely by the Syrian Army” while Turkey is “closely monitoring.”

“Syria’s security is our security,” the statement said, adding that “Turkey will provide the necessary support should Syria request it.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan described the SDF as the “greatest obstacle for peace in Syria.”

The United Nations expressed concern at the violence and called for de-escalation.

Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara and Andrew Wilks in Istanbul and Hogir Al Abdo in Qamishli, Syria contributed to this report. Sewell reported from Beirut.

Residents displaced from the Sheikh Maqsoud and Achrafieh neighborhoods take shelter inside a mosque in Aleppo, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, after clashes erupted Tuesday between Syrian government forces and Kurdish fighters in a contested area of Aleppo. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Members of the White Helmets, a volunteer civil defense group, help an elderly woman fleeing the Sheikh Maqsoud and Achrafieh neighborhoods in Aleppo, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, after clashes erupted Tuesday between Syrian government forces and Kurdish fighters. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Residents flee the Sheikh Maqsoud and Achrafieh neighbourhoods after clashes erupted Tuesday between Syrian government forces and Kurdish fighters in a contested area of the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Demonstrators chant slogans in support of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) during a protest in Qamishli, northeastern Syria, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Hogir Al Abdo)

Residents flee the Sheikh Maqsoud and Achrafieh neighborhoods after clashes broke out on Tuesday between Syrian government forces and Kurdish fighters in a contested area of the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

Syrian government soldiers sit on their armoured personnel carrier (APC) following clashes with Kurdish fighters in a contested area of the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A car burns during clashes between Kurdish fighters and Syrian government forces in a contested area of the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

An aerial view shows Syrian residents in vehicles, queueing to flee from Sheikh Maqsoud and Achrafieh neighborhoods after clashes broke out on Tuesday between Syrian government forces and Kurdish fighters in a contested area of the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)