World

Syrian PM Reportedly Defects From Assad Regime: ‘Considers Himself a Soldier in the Revolution’

Prime Minister Riad Hijab Defects to Free Syrian Army From Assads Government

Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab has reportedly defected from Assad's ruling government. (Photo: Getty Images)

(The Blaze/AP) — Syria’s prime minister has defected and fled the country, according to reports — evidence that the cracks in President Bashar‘s Assad’s regime have reached the highest echelons of government.

While Ahmad Kassim, a senior official with the Free Syrian Army, said Prime Minister Riad Hijab defected to Jordan along with three other ministers earlier this morning, Jordan’s information minister is now denying the report — likely to avoid being drawn into Syria’s deadly conflict.

Another Jordanian government official implied the prime minister is currently in Jordan, but stressed that he won’t be staying long and will soon be on his way to Turkey or Qatar.

(Related: Videos Seemingly Show Syrian Rebel Army Setting Massive Piles of Alcohol on Fire as They Yell ‘Allahu Akbar’)

Hijab is the highest-level government official to defect since the uprising against Assad’s authoritarian rule began 17 months ago. The other ministers’ identities were not immediately known and Syrian TV denied reports that Finance Minister Mohammad Jlailati had defected.

“The prime minister defected from the regime of killing, maiming and terrorism. He considers himself a soldier in the revolution,” Mohammad Otari, Hijab’s spokesman, told The Associated Press in Amman, Jordan.

Prime Minister Riad Hijab Defects to Free Syrian Army From Assads Government

Syrian rebel fighters stand around an anti-aircraft machine gun mounted on a truck in the northern city of Aleppo on August 4, 2012. (Photo: Getty Images)

Assad’s regime has suffered a series of significant setbacks over the past month that point to a loosening of its grip on the country.

Four of the president’s top security aides were killed in a rebel bombing of state security headquarters in the capital Damascus on July 18, including the defense minister and Assad’s brother in law. There has been a steady stream of high-level defections from diplomats to generals in recent weeks. And the regime has been unable to fully subdue rebel challenges in the two major cities, Damascus and Aleppo.

Hijab’s defection comes less than two months after he was appointed to the post, which is largely symbolic in Syria where the president and a tight coterie of advisers hold the real power.

Otari said Hijab, who hails from Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour, planned his defection for more than two months, and began the planning as soon as he was appointed prime minister. He declined to confirm that the premier was in Jordan now, but said Hijab was in a “safe place” along with his family and seven brothers, including two who held top government posts at the ministries of oil and environment.

“The criminal Assad pressed him to become a prime minister and left him no choice, but to accept the position. He had told him: `You either accept the position or get killed,’” Otari said.

Prime Minister Riad Hijab Defects to Free Syrian Army From Assads Government

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (Photo: AP)

He said the prime minister approached rebels from the Free Syrian Army at least two months ago to help him escape, which they did.

Earlier Monday, Syrian state-run TV reported Hijab was fired from his post. A former agriculture minister, Hijab took office less than two months ago and was considered a loyalist in Assad’s ruling Baath party.

The Syrian opposition celebrated Hijab’s defection and saluted his bravery. George Sabra, a spokesman for the opposition Syrian National Council, said Hijab is a symbol of the state and added that he expected his desertion to usher in a chain of others.

“He has finally discovered that this regime is an enemy of its own people and is destined to fall, and he chose to join the ranks of those who defected before him,” Sabra told AP. “This will trigger a chain of other defections by Syrian senior government and security officials,” he added. “The Syrian regime is drowning and this is the clearest sign yet.”

A few hours before news of the defections came out, a bomb ripped through the third floor of the state TV building in Damascus, shattering offices and wounding at least three employees. The Syrian capital has witnessed a string of suicide attacks and other bombings in the past few months as the civil war escalates and the rebels grow bolder and more capable.

Prime Minister Riad Hijab Defects to Free Syrian Army From Assads Government

Syrian rebels stand on pictures of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his late father and predecessor Hafez al-Assad (bottom-R) as they take position in the northern city of Aleppo on August 3, 2012. (Photo: Getty Images)

The TV remained on air despite what was another severe breach of a state institution and a heavily guarded area in the capital.

There was no claim of responsibility for the attack.

“The explosion was so powerful it threw me in the air,” said Mohammad Oudeh, a staffer who was lightly wounded in his right hand.

Ahmad Abdullah, a Turkey-based member of the Free Syrian Army rebel group, said the TV station “broadcasts government propaganda and this makes it a target for the rebels.”

A pro-government private Syrian TV station, Al-Ikhbariya, broadcast images of the damage at the state TV building. The footage showed destroyed walls, overturned desks, blown-out cabinet doors, broken glass and dangling electricity cables. A few TV workers were shown tending to a wounded colleague.

Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi blamed Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Israel for the attack. Syrian authorities accuse the Gulf countries and Israel of supporting the rebels.

Prime Minister Riad Hijab Defects to Free Syrian Army From Assads Government

Demonstrators hold a sign reading, 'with god's help, victory is coming soon' at a demonstration against President Bashar Al-Assad of Syria on August 4, 2012 in Istanbul. (Photo: Getty Images)

“Nothing can silence the voice of Syria or the voice of the Syrian people,” al-Zoubi said while inspecting the damage at the TV building. “We have a thousand locations to broadcast from.”

Syria’s rebels have grown increasingly bold and capable in recent months. In July, the rebels and Syrian regime forces fought intense battles for a week in Damascus in what was the opposition fighters’ biggest challenge so far in the capital.

The government claimed Saturday it was now in full control of all districts in the capital, after purging one of the last rebel-held areas, but clashes have continued in some districts.

In a brazen daylight attack, rebels commandeered a bus and snatched 48 Iranians just outside Damascus Saturday. Iran said those abducted were pilgrims who were visiting a shrine about 10 miles south of Damascus and were on their way to the airport to return home.

But the captors claimed in a video broadcast Sunday that one of the captives was an officer of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards and that the 48 were on a “reconnaissance mission” in the capital.

Mainly Shiite Iran is a close ally of the beleaguered Syrian government, which is dominated by the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

—-

Halaby reported from Amman, Jordan. AP writers Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria and Bassem Mroue contributed to this report from Hatay, Turkey.

Comments (16)

  • CulperGang
    Posted on August 10, 2012 at 1:24pm

    The war against Syria is NWO war to dismantle middle east states that REFUSE to be slave to the Bilderberger bankers. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH GIVING FREEDOM for people from dictatorships. Bush LIED. “Operation Freedom?” while that bastard Bush took OURS with the Patriot Act. ALL of the wars in the middle east are ILLEGAL. All of them.

    http://www.youtube.com/user/SyrianGirlpartisan

    The US government is a FRAUD filled with LIARS for hire by the Bilderbergers using OUR MONEY for their purposes DESTROYING THE US AND ANYBODY THAT GETS IN THEIR WAY.

    Report Post » CulperGang  
  • jackact
    Posted on August 6, 2012 at 1:30pm

    5-4-3-2-1…. bye bye Assad, hello Muslim Brotherhood.
    Same thing but even worse.
    Just like Egypt.
    And Iraq.
    And Afghanistan.
    And Libya.

    Report Post »  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:30am

    One more rat flees the ship, and the extremists groups supported by Obama carry forth the plan for one more radical regime to rise around the nation of Israel. Obama will go down as one of the bloodiest leaders in the history of the world.

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
  • SilentReader
    Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:23am

    Get it in your heads that Turkey and Erdogan are not an ally. They never have been. They are the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist aggressors, plunderers and occupiers in the form of the Turkish al Qaeda rebels in Syria, and they are the facilitators and collaborators of the KLA Muslim Albanian Drug mafia, head kingpin Naser Keljmendi, and the Montenegrin Mafia, head kingpins PM of Montenegro and his brother, in the Balkans where they are re-creating the green reversal.

    This BO-Clinton treacherous administration is once again cooperating and facilitating the al Qaeda in Syria and another Muslim Brotherhood takeover of another country in the Middle East. Just like they did in Egypt where they are continuing to exterminate the Copt Christians. Just like they did in the Balkans in the Bosnian War with their support of KLA Muslim Albanian Mafia in Kosovo and Hashim Thaci PM of seized Kosovo, and the al Qaeda and Mujahedeen terrorists in Bosnia under Clinton’s good friend terrorist Alija Izetbegovic and now under his terrorist son, Bakir Izetbegovic.

    Turkey is NOT an ally.

    Report Post » SilentReader  
  • SilentReader
    Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:05am

    The Turkish al Qaeda (Mujahedeen are the world al Qaeda) are attacking Assad’s army. Why? Because Turkey wants control of the gas pipeline that is being built from Russia to Europe, and they want Syria to become a fundamentalist MB Islamic State. Turkey has allied with Iran with the aim of being the head of the Islamic Caliphate. Keep in mind that the Christians and moderate Muslims support Assad. And who is arming the Turkish al Qaeda (Mujahedeen) rebels in Syria? The Turks and NATO are arming the al Qaeda with Obama-Clinton’s cooperation.

    Seven days ago from the air the Turkish army bombarded the Kurdish people in Northern Iraq! At the same time, Iran’s artillery bombarded the Kurdish people in northern Iraq! U.S. companies have a year ago discovered the regions inhabited by Kurds have huge resources of oil and gas! The Kurdish area of northern Iraq had been the most peaceful and there were no terrorist acts. Even the government of the province of Kurdistan has signed a contract with an American company! Then why did Turkey and Iran attack the Kurds? Turkey has been committing the real genocide against the Kurds for over 30 years! It worked and don’t forget that Saddam Hussein had the same goal!

    These are the Turkish al Qaeda (Mujahedeen) that NATO and we are supporting and arming in Syria in this video who are killing Assad’s army in Alleppa, Syria. Take a good look and listen to what they are yelling as they are killing Assad’s army.
    http://youtu.be/ARV5LrK9S

    Report Post » SilentReader  
    • KidCharlemagne
      Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:19am

      Assad is giving Syria’s Christians the means to defend themselves from the islamic militants:

      ——————
      Inside Syria: Aleppo’s Christians arm against Islamists

      As foreign and local radicals rise amid the chaos of Syria’s civil war, Christians are taking arms from the Assad regime.
      July 31, 2012 07:11

      ALEPPO, Syria and BEIRUT, Lebanon — As evidence mounts that foreign Islamists are fighting alongside Syria’s increasingly radicalized rebels, Christians in Aleppo and elsewhere are taking up arms, often supplied by the regime.

      “We saw what happened to the Christians in Iraq,” Abu George, a Christian resident of Aleppo’s Aziza district told GlobalPost. “What is going on in Aleppo is not a popular revolution for democracy and freedom. The fighters of the so-called Free Syrian Army are radical Sunnis who want to establish an Islamic state.”
      http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/syria/120731/aleppo-christians-islamists-jihadis-al-qaeda-iraq-sectarian-conflict

      Report Post »  
  • capecoralM
    Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:01am

    Arutz Sheva reported last week that the Muslim Brotherhood’s deputy leader vowed that Syria will become an Islamic state after the presumed fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

    Report Post » capecoralM  
  • capecoralM
    Posted on August 6, 2012 at 10:59am

    Who are the “Rebels”? Is this another anti-Sharia Law take-over? When the Anti-Sharia Law Iranian revolution took place Obama did not Support them? Makes you wonder what these Rebels want.

    Report Post » capecoralM  
  • KidCharlemagne
    Posted on August 6, 2012 at 10:58am

    Translation: He received “an offer he couldn’t refuse” (ala The Godfather).

    When you read between the lines, he was forced to make a choice: either stay with Assad (and risk an “unfortunate” accident to his family members at some point)…..or take the payoff and join the other side (thereby allowing his wife and children to continue living).

    It’s simply amazing that so many people swallow what the corporate media is feeding them hook, line, & sinker.

    Report Post »  
  • Gonzo
    Posted on August 6, 2012 at 10:38am

    Can we start drilling yet? Do we really have to wait until the middle east is completely consumed in flames and see gas go to $10 to $15 a gallon? Drill here and now and get the damned pipeline from Canada going!

    Report Post » Gonzo  
    • Mutiny
      Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:15am

      Gonzo we are drilling(still not enough) but we are drilling more oil domestic oil today than we have any time in the past decade. The problem isnt driven by supply and demand. There is plenty of oil in the supply and really demand is low. The problem is we have inflated our currency.

      Watch Ben Swann’s break down of this on his show reality check. If you dont follow him on facebook you should. He is one of the best guys out there.

      http://www.fox19.com/story/19070039/washington-times-columnist-gives-ben-swann-a-reality-check

      Report Post » Mutiny  
    • KickinBack
      Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:34am

      We don’t need to drill, we’ve got corn-fueled ethanol…Oh crap, the corn’s all dried up…well, we’ve got a President who can just pass an executive order to fix that problem…

      Report Post » KickinBack  
    • Gonzo
      Posted on August 6, 2012 at 12:43pm

      Mutiny, we still get 25% of our oil from the mideast. Cut supply by 1/4th and watch prices sky rocket. No doubt the devaluation of our currency is a big part of our present surge in gas prices. The mid east is ready to blow and we had better be ready for it…and we’re not.

      Report Post » Gonzo  
    • Mutiny
      Posted on August 6, 2012 at 2:49pm

      @gonzo

      I completely agree we should be energy independent but the problem still is the FED.

      Report Post » Mutiny  

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