Syrian 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Supressor of the Damascenes...
on Sunday received his newly appointed army chief-of-staff General Ali Ayyoub, state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
reported.
"President Assad met chief-of-staff General Ali Ayyoub and gave him his instructions," the broadcaster reported.
Ayyoub replaces Fahd al-Freij, who was named defense minister after the death of Daoud Rajha in a blast that also killed three other senior regime members.
The attack, claimed by the rebel Free Syrian Army, also killed national security chief General Hisham Ikhtiyar, Assad's brother-in-law Assef Shawkat and General Hassan Turkmani, head of the regime's crisis cell on the uprising.