Syrian Premier Defects Protesting 'Genocide'
Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Hijab has defected to the opposition in protest at the "genocide" President Bashar Assad is carrying out against his own people, his spokesman said on Monday.
"I announce my defection today (Monday) from the regime of killing and terror, and I join the ranks of the revolt," he said in statement read by his spokesman Mohammed al-Otri on Al-Jazeera news channel from Amman.
He said his defection comes at a time "when Syria is passing through the most difficult war crimes, genocide, and barbaric killings and massacres against unarmed citizens."
Hijab, the highest-ranking official to defect from Assad's regime, has "become a soldier in the ranks of the soldiers of the revolt," Otri said.
He said the premier's defection took "months" to organize and "rebels inside the country have secured this honorable exit for him."
"He put his life on the line for this revolt... to tell the world that we were forced to be with this regime and the sword was at our necks," the spokesman said.
"Our information is confirmed through Riyad Hijab that the Syrian regime is collapsing and will definitely fall."
Otri said the premier was in a "safe haven and in safe hands" with 10 relatives and their families, adding that he "will soon appear and talk."
Opposition Syrian National Council member Khalid Zein al-Abedin told AFP in Amman that Hijab, his family, two ministers and three army officers crossed the border into Jordan on Sunday night.
"The Free Syrian Army helped all of them cross the border. They are now in a safe place inside the kingdom. Several other army officers defected and arrived in Jordan last night."
Another member of the Syrian opposition confirmed the details of the defection.
"The opposition and the Free Syrian Army are coordinating now to help more army officers and officials defect to Jordan in the coming few days," he told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Zayed Hammad, head of the Ketab and Sunna Society, a charity that cares for more than 50,000 Syrians who fled violence said his staff had seen Hijab entering Jordan on Monday night.
"Aid workers from the society saw Hijab, his family and others cross the border last night and I can confirm that," said Hammad, whose organization cares for more than 50,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan.
Later on Monday, Hijab’s spokesman said the defecting premier is to leave Jordan for Qatar within days, following the example of other high-profile defectors.
"Hijab will go to Doha, where international media are based. He will leave for Qatar tomorrow, the day after or after a few days," Otri told AFP in the Jordanian capital.
A member of the Syrian opposition in Jordan said Hijab would soon travel to Qatar.
"We are currently coordinating to facilitate the departure of Hijab to Doha in the coming few hours, most probably at 2200 GMT. Seven of his brothers will stay in Jordan," he told AFP, saying he had helped Hijab defect.
"We understand the sensitivity of this issue for Jordan. We do not want to create problems for the kingdom, which already has tense relations with the Syrian regime," he said, on condition of anonymity.
Syria's ambassador to Iraq, Nawaf Fares, defected last month and took refuge in Qatar, which has been among the most outspoken critics of Assad's regime.
State television reported that Deputy Prime Minister and Local Government Minister Omar Ghalawanji had been appointed caretaker premier.
"Prime Minister Riyad Hijab has been dismissed," it said in a terse report.
According to the state-owned Tishrin newspaper, Hijab presided over two meetings at the local government ministry on Sunday to discuss "measures to redevelop areas that have been cleansed of armed terrorists."
Hijab was only appointed on June 6 following a widely boycotted May 7 parliamentary election that was hailed as a centerpiece of reform by the Assad regime but dismissed as a farce by Arab and Western governments.
Also Monday, Anatolia reported that another Syrian brigadier general has fled to Turkey to join opposition fighters, accompanied by five high-ranking officers and more than 30 troops.
Some 400 Syrian civilians, most of them women and children, also arrived in the company of the soldiers, the agency added.
The latest defection brings the total number of Syrian generals who have left Syria through the Turkish border to 31 since the uprising erupted in mid-March last year.
Source: Agence France Presse
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