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http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/syrian-prime-minister-riyad-al-hijab-defects-to-jordan/2012/08/06/a7663224-dfb5-11e1-a421-8bf0f0e5aa11_story.html
Syrian Prime Minister Riyad al-Hijab reportedly defects to Jordan
By Liz Sly, Updated: Monday, August 6, 7:47 AM
ANTAKYA, Turkey — Syria’s prime minister defected to Jordan on Monday,
according to news reports, becoming the most senior official yet to quit
the embattled government of President Bashar al-Assad.
A statement read on the al-Jazeera Arabic news channel that was
attributed to Prime Minister Riyad al-Hijab said he had resigned to
protest his government’s harsh tactics as it tries to crush the
country’s rebellion, which started nearly 17 months ago.
“I am announcing that I am defecting from this regime, which is a
murderous and terrorist regime,” the statement said. “I join the ranks
of this dignified revolution.”
Reuters news service quoted am unnamed Jordanian government official
confirming that Hijab had defected and taken refuge there.
Syrian state television, however, reported that Hijab had been fired,
less than two months after he was appointed to the job.
Hijab’s departure followed an accelerating stream of defections from
Syria’s armed forces, including that of Maj. Gen. Manaf Tlas, a former
confidante and close friend of Assad’s who fled to Turkey a month ago
then went to France to join his father, a once-powerful former defense
minister.
Last week, Syria’s top diplomat in Britain defected, telling the British
Foreign Office that “he is no longer willing to represent a regime that
has committed such violent and oppressive acts against its own people,
and is therefore unable to continue in his position.”
Real power in Syria is wielded by Assad’s inner circle of friends,
family and the powerful chiefs of his security forces. But the defection
of the head of Assad’s government nonetheless sent a strong signal that
his support is rapidly unraveling even, within the ranks of those
assumed still to be loyal.
Hijab, a former agriculture minister and a member of the ruling Baath
Party, is a Sunni Muslim from the eastern town of Deir el-Zour, which
has been in open revolt against the government for more than a year.
The Associated Press, quoting rebel leader Ahmad Kassim, said three
other ministers defector along with Hijab, but that report could not be
separately confirmed.
In addition, the wire service said that Turkey’s state-run news agency
reported that Syria’s first astronaut had joined opposition forces.
Mohammad Ahmad Faris, 61, crossed into Turkey after reaching the
headquarters of the Free Syrian Army in the city of Aleppo, meeting with
rebel commanders there and declaring his solidarity with the umbrella
group of rebel fighters, the Anadolu agency reported.
The State Department announced over the weekend that Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton would visit Turkey next Saturday for
consultations on the crisis.
At the same time, Syria made clear that it blames Turkey and the Arab
countries of the Persian Gulf for recent rebel advances. The official
Syrian Arab News Agency said government forces were pursuing “Gulf and
Turkish terrorist militias” in Aleppo, an apparent reference to recent
news reports that Turkey and the gulf countries were helping arm the rebels.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 40
people were killed in violence nationwide Sunday, including 10 army
soldiers and five rebels.
Rebel fighters said Sunday that 48 Iranians captured in the Syrian
capital were not the pilgrims their government asserts but instead were
affiliated with Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps, on a mission in
Damascus to help the Syrian government crush the rebellion.
© The Washington Post Company
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