10/08/2012 | Printed Edition
President Bashar al-Assad named a new prime minister yesterday to replace Syria’s most senior government defector. Assad appointed Wael al-Halki, a Sunni Muslim from the southern province of Daraa where the Syrian uprising erupted 17 months ago, to head the government after Riyad Hijab fled on Monday after spending only two months in the job. Assad has focused his fierce army counter-offensive on Syria’s two main cities, reasserting control over much of Damascus before taking the fight to the northern commercial hub.