You're reading: Syrian TV says prime minister has been fired

BEIRUT — Syria's state-run TV says the country's prime minister has been fired less than two months after taking up his post.

Riad Hijab is a former agriculture minister and a loyalist in President Bashar Assad’s ruling Baath party.

He
was appointed as prime minister on June 23. The TV did not immediately
give a reason why Hijab was dismissed from his post Monday. It says Omar
Ghalawanji, Hijab’s deputy prime minister, was named as a temporary
replacement.

The announcement came hours after a bomb attack
ripped through the third floor of the state TV building in Damascus,
causing heavy material damage and light injuries.

A deadly uprising has convulsed Syria for the past 17 months.