Syria: Assad names new prime minister

Syrian President Bashar Assad named former agriculture minister Riyad Hijab as the country’s new prime minister on Wednesday.

Hijab, a member of the ruling Baath party, will be tasked with forming a new government.

Assad gave a speech to parliament on Sunday in which he said the next administration would “take into account the new political forces” following May 7th’s parliamentary election.

That election was held under a revised constitution which allowed for new political parties to be registered.

However, most opposition figures did not take part, dismissing the vote as a sham because the new parties are close to the old establishment.

New PM Hijab will take over from Adel Safar.

Safar was appointed in April last year just as the uprising against the Assad family’s four-decade rule was spreading across the country.

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