Embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has appointed former Health Minister Wael al-Halqi to the post of the country’s prime minister following the defection of the previous premier earlier in the week, Al Arabiya news agency reported citing Syria’s state television.
Former Prime Minister Riyad Hijab, surfaced with his family in Jordan on Monday, saying he had defected from the Assad regime in Damascus and joined the opposition. Hours before he appeared in Jordan, Syrian state television reported that Hijab was sacked from his post without specifying the reason why.
“The president has signed Decree 298, appointing Wael al-Halqi as the new prime minister,” Al Arabiya quoted the Syrian broadcaster as saying.
Halqi, born in 1964, replaces acting premier Omar Ghalawanji, who was appointed as the government’s caretaker hours after Hijab’s defection.
The new prime minister comes from Syria’s southern province of Deraa, where the 17-month-old popular uprising against Assad’s ruling began. Halki graduated from Damascus University's faculty of medicine in 1987. He is married and has four children.
