President Bashar al-Assad has appointed Wael al-Halqi as Syria’s new premier, state television reported on Thursday, after his predecessor defected to join a rebellion. “The president has signed Decree 298, appointing Wael al-Halqi as the new prime minister,” the broadcaster reported. Health Minister Halqi was appointed to replace Riad Hijab, whose defection to the opposition was announced on Monday.
Hijab’s was the highest-level defection from Assad’s regime since the outbreak of a revolt almost 17 months ago.
The former premier arrived on Wednesday morning in Jordan with his family, according to Jordanian Information Minister Samih Maayatah.
“Hijab and members of his family entered Jordan during the early hours of Wednesday,” Maayatah told AFP without elaborating.
The new premier was born in 1964 in the southern province of Daraa, where the uprising broke out in March 2011.
A father of four, Halqi holds a degree in medicine from the University of Damascus. He is specialised in gynecology and obstetrics. Hijab served as ruling Baath Party secretary in Daraa from 2000 to 2004, and was president of the order of doctors in 2010.
The rebel Free Syrian Army withdrew completely from the embattled district of Salaheddin in the northern city of Aleppo on Thursday as regime forces advanced, a rebel commander said.
“We have staged a tactical withdrawal from Salaheddin,” the commander, Hossam Abu Mohammed, told AFP by phone. “The district is completely empty of rebel fighters. Regime forces are now advancing into Salaheddin.”
The rebels are still in streets near the key neighbourhood, said Abu Mohammed, who commands the Dara al-Shahbaa Brigade. “We are in the Saif al-Dawla and Mashhad districts” east of Salaheddin, he said. He cited the violent bombardment by regime forces as the reason behind the FSA withdrawal.
“The artillery and aerial bombardments are very heavy, and they are targeting all rebel-held areas surrounding Salaheddin,” said Abu Mohammed.
Another FSA commander confirmed the pull-out.
“The FSA’s brigades have staged a tactical withdrawal from Salaheddin in order to open a new front in Saif al-Dawla and Mashhad,” said Wassel Ayub, who commands the Nur al-Haq Brigade.
