President Bashar al-Assad yesterday formed a new government, less than two months after controversial parliamentary elections boycotted by the opposition in conflict-hit Syria.
“President Bashar al-Assad has issued Decree 210 forming a new government under Prime Minister Dr Riad Hijab,” state television said.

Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem remains unchanged, along with the defence and interior ministers Daoud Rajha and Mohamed al-Shaar, in the 35-member cabinet which includes 20 new faces.

Rajha, defence minister since August, was among those sanctioned by the US for his role in the crackdown on Syrian protesters that has cost thousands of lives since March 2011.

Hijab, the former agriculture minister, assumed the role of premier on June 6. He was tasked with forming a new government following May 7 “multiparty” elections, dismissed as a sham by the opposition and Western powers.

A national reconciliation portfolio has been created by the regime, which has been suppressing an uprising for the past 15 months and which labels protesters and armed rebels alike as “terrorists”.

Ali Haidar, a member of the Syria-based opposition tolerated by the regime, was given the reconciliation post.

Qadri Jamil, another Syria-based opposition figure, was appointed deputy premier for economic affairs and minister of domestic trade and consumer protection.

Neither Jamil nor Haidar are members of the Syrian National Council (SNC), the main opposition coalition abroad whose primary demand is the departure of the Assad regime.

They are co-presidents of the Popular Front for Change and Liberation, set up in July 2011, that supports peaceful dissent but does not explicitly call for the fall of the regime and rejects foreign intervention.

Lawyer Omran al-Zohbi was appointed information minister, according to a list published by state news agency Sana.

SNC chief Abdel Basset Sayda dismissed the new line-up as a sham and charged that Assad, whose family has ruled Syria for the past four decades, was incapable of bringing about any meaningful reform.

“The announcement of this government aims to give the impression that reforms have been brought in and that the only thing left was to form the government,” Sayda told AFP by telephone in Beirut.

He said the time for demanding reforms had passed.

“Now we consider Assad as the main element of repression, and as a result he is incapable of implementing reforms,” said the SNC chief.

Sayda said there was “no real change” in the government, with key posts remaining in the same hands. Jamil and Haidar “do not represent the opposition. They are under the control of the authorities,” he said.

The new cabinet assumes power amid an intensification of repression and clashes in the country, which last week led to the halt of the UN observer mission.

International envoy Kofi Annan has urged the world to raise the level of pressure on both the armed opposition and the regime to try to end the violence.