Mr Assad issued an order at the end of January dismissing Maan al-Shibly as mayor of Aleppo, Syria's second city, and replacing him with Lama Maamar. Mr Shibly's removal came after some 50 officials in the city's municipality had been dismissed by order of the prime minister for various improprieties. The moves to clean up the government of the city had been interpreted by some Syrian media commentators as being aimed at preparing the ground for the forthcoming parliamentary election.