Embattled Assad names new minister

Syrian president Bashar Assad replaced his defence minister with the army chief of staff in the midst of a brutal military crackdown on a five-month-old uprising, the state-run news agency said.

General Ali Habib, the country’s defence minister since 2009, was removed from his post because of health problems, the Sana report said, but some analysts said the general was unhappy with the crackdown.