Syrian Health Minister Wael al-Halki speaks to the media at his office in Damascus, April 3, 2012. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad appointed Health Minister Wael al-Halki as prime minister on August 9, 2012, after the defection earlier this week of Prime Minister Riyad Hijab. Halki, born in 1964, is from the southern province of Deraa where the uprising against four decades of Assad family rule erupted. He replaces caretaker premier Omar Ghalawanji who was appointed hours after Hijab's defection. Picture taken April 3, 2012. REUTERS/Khaled al-Hariri (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST)