Syrian President Bashar Assad has reappointed premier Wael al-Halqi to form a new government following presidential elections in which he won a new seven-year term in office.
SANA, the country's state-run news agency, said on Sunday Assad had issued a decree tasking al-Halqi to form the new cabinet.
Al-Halqi automatically became a caretaker premier following the June presidential election, which was confined to government-controlled areas and dismissed by the opposition and its Western allies as a sham.
It is not clear how much time al-Halqi has to form the cabinet, which is not expected to change the course of Syria's three-year-old civil war.
Opposition activists say the war has killed more than 170,000 people.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
Assad appointed al-Halqi, 50, two years ago, elevating him from the post of health minister after former premier, Riad Hijab, defected.
Halqi is a member of Assad's ruling Baath party and hails from the southern city of Daraa, birthplace of the Syrian uprising.
He narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in Damascus last year in a bombing that killed several other people.
