DAMASCUS, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday appointed Faisal Mekdad, the deputy foreign minister, as the new foreign minister, following the death of late Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem last Monday.

Assad also named Bashar al-Jaafari, the Syrian representative to the UN, as the new deputy foreign minister.

Mekdad, born in southern Syria in 1954, served as the permanent representative of Syria to the UN from 2003 to 2006. He was appointed as deputy foreign minister in 2006.