Baath stalwart chosen as PM

President Bashar al-Assad named a Baath Party stalwart to form a new government yesterday, signalling no political concessions to a 15-month-old uprising, as the army battled rebel forces near the Mediterranean coast.

The appointment of Riyad Hijab, agriculture minister in the previous government, as prime minister follows an election last month that opponents called a sham.

“We expected Assad to play a game and appoint a nominal independent but he chose a hardcore Baathist,” said opposition campaigner Najati Tayyara. The new government, like its predecessors, would wield no real power, he added.

Activists said soldiers backed by helicopters and tanks fought rebels in the coastal province of Latakia for a second day yesterday.