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| Wael al-Halqi new appointed Prime Minister of Syria |
Damascus: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
has appointed Wael al-Halqi as a new prime minister, state television reported
on Thursday.
Wael al-Halqi, the former health
minister, will replace Riyad Hijab, who defected last week and is now in
Jordan.
The appointment came as fighting continued in the country's second city Aleppo
and as Iran hosts a diplomatic meeting about Syria.
Al-Halqi, 48, is from the southern province of Deraa, where the 17-month
uprising against Assad erupted.
He held the post of secretary general of the Deraa branch of the Ba'ath party
from 2000 to 2004. He was appointed head of the doctors' syndicate in 2010.
In related news, fighting raged in Aleppo amid contradictory reports about who
controlled the strategic Salaheddine neighborhood.
The state news agency claimed on August 8 that Assad's force had regained
control of the Salaheddine neighborhood, the main rebel area in Aleppo. But
activists said rebels were still putting up a fight there on August 9.