Syria's transitional government has appointed a Druze woman as the governor of the southern province of Suwaida, according to the Syrian News Agency (SANA).
Muhsina al-Mahithawi, a member of Syria's Druze minority, has been selected to lead her home province. She previously studied at the University of Damascus and headed a large bank in Suwaida province.
Aiham al-Schufi, an activist in the region, described al-Mahithawi as one of the leading figures in the protests against the regime of former strongman Bashar Assad.
She was "one of the first women in the peaceful movement in the province of Suwaida against the government," al-Schufi told dpa, and faced harassment from authorities.
Al-Mahithawi is the third woman to receive a formal position under the transitional government after Assad was toppled earlier this month.
Earlier this month, Aisha al-Dibs was appointed as the head of the Women's Affairs Office in Syria's interim government.
Also on Tuesday, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said the European Union's top diplomat in the country has met newly appointed Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani.
Al-Shibani discussed the security, unity and independence of Syria with Michael Ohnmacht, the EU's head of delegation.
He also called for stronger diplomatic relations with the EU and the beginning of a new chapter after the fall of Assad.
Ohnmacht had already held initial talks with representatives of the new transitional government in Syria two weeks ago.
He stressed the European Union's support for the peaceful transfer of power in Syria and said it was important that the new Syrian government also take into account the rights of minorities and women.
Meanwhile, Syria's de-facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa met with senior Christian clerics on Tuesday, amid calls on his government to guarantee minority rights after seizing power earlier this month.
"The leader of the new Syrian administration, Ahmed al-Sharaa, meets a delegation from the Christian community in Damascus," Syria's General Command said in a statement on Telegram.
The statement included pictures of the meeting with Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican clerics.
Earlier Tuesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called for an inclusive political transition in Syria that guarantees the rights of the country's diverse communities.
He expressed hope that "Syrians could take back control of their own destiny."
But for this to happen, the country needs "a political transition in Syria that includes all communities in their diversity, that upholds the most basic rights and fundamental freedoms," Barrot told AFPTV during a visit to Lebanon with Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu.
Barrot and Lecornu also met Lebanon's army chief Joseph Aoun and visited UN peacekeepers patrolling the southern border, where a fragile truce ended intense fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in late November.
Since seizing power, Syria's new leadership has repeatedly tried to reassure minorities that they will not be harmed, although some incidents have sparked protests.
On Dec. 25, thousands protested in several areas of Syria after a video circulated showing an attack on an Alawite shrine in the country's north.
A day earlier, hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in Christian areas of Damascus to protest the burning of a Christmas tree near Hama in central Syria.
Before the civil war erupted in 2011, Syria was home to about one million Christians, according to analyst Fabrice Balanche, who says their number has dwindled to about 300,000.
