Syria's Assad appoints new PM: TV

DAMASCUS: Syria's embattled President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday appointed agriculture minister Riad Hijab as the strife-torn country's new premier and tasked him with forming a government, state television reported.

"President Assad issued a decree asking Riad Hijab to form a new government of the Syrian Arab Republic," the television reported.

The appointment comes after a new parliament was voted in on May 7 in elections boycotted by opposition groups.