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Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Hijab is seen in Al Qunatara in this February 15, 2011 file photo. Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab announced Monday he was joining the rebels after slipping across the border into Jordan during the night in the highest-ranking defection of the nearly 17-month uprising Image Credit: AP

Damascus: Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Hijab has been sacked just two months after his appointment, state television reported on Monday.

"Prime Minister Riyad Hijab has been dismissed," the television reported.

The director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP in Beirut that Hijab had fled Syria.

President Bashar Al Assad appointed Hijab, a former agriculture minister, as prime minister in June following a parliamentary election in May, which authorities said was a step towards political reform but which opponents dismissed as a sham.