Syria president reappoints prime minister amid war

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad reappointed premier Wael al-Halqi to form a new government Sunday following presidential elections in which he won a new seven-year term in office, the country’s state-run news agency said.

SANA said Assad issued a decree tasking al-Halqi to form the new Cabinet. Al-Halqi automatically became a caretaker premier following the June presidential election, which was confined to government-controlled areas and dismissed by the opposition and its Western allies as a sham.

It is not clear how much time al-Halqi has to form the Cabinet, which is not expected to change the course of Syria’s 3-year-old civil war. Opposition activists say the war has killed more than 170,000 people.

Assad appointed al-Halqi, 50, two years ago, elevating him from the post of health minister after former premier, Riad Hijab, defected. Halqi is a member of Assad’s ruling Baath party and hails from the southern city of Daraa, birthplace of the Syrian uprising.

He narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in Damascus last year in a bombing that killed several other people.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Federal News Network Logo
Log in to your WTOP account for notifications and alerts customized for you.

Sign up