Otri headed the city council in Aleppo from 1983 to 1987 and is a former governor of
Homs. He was president of Aleppo's engineering syndicate from 1989 to 1993. He is a long-serving member of the ruling
Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. In March 2000, he became a member of the Ba'ath Party's Central Committee and in June 2000 of the party's influential Regional Command. In March 2000, he was also appointed deputy prime minister for services affairs and he served in this post until 2003. ==Prime minister==