Syrian opposition elects Hitto as provisional premier  Reuters
News  3/19/2013 2:07:45 PM - Reuters News  By Khaled Yacoub
Oweis  ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Syrian opposition leaders chose
Western-educated technocrat Ghassan Hitto as provisional prime
minister in what they hope will be the first step to fill a
power vacuum arising from a two-year-long revolt against
President Bashar al-Assad.  Hours after the appointment of
Hitto, who has lived for decades in the West and is little known
in Syria, Syria's government and rebels accused each other of a
deadly chemical attack near the northern city of Aleppo.  If
confirmed, it would be the first use of such arms in the
conflict, in a region that the opposition is hoping to use as a
launchpad to deliver services to large swathes of the country no
longer controlled by President Bashar al-Assad.  At a meeting of
the Syrian National Coalition in the Turkish city of Istanbul
that stretched into the early hours of Tuesday, Hitto received
35 votes of around 50 cast by coalit