Syrian Prime Minister defects

[wautd]

Beeb

Syria Prime Minister Riad Hijab defects
Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab has defected from President Bashar al-Assad's government to join "the revolution", his spokesman says.

Mr Hijab was appointed less than two months ago and his departure is the highest-profile defection since the uprising began in March 2011.

State-run TV said he had been sacked.

Riad Hijab, who is said to have fled with his family, is a Sunni Muslim from the Deir al-Zour area of eastern Syria which has been caught up in the revolt.

Early reports said Mr Hijab had defected to Jordan, but Jordanian state TV later denied this. By Monday afternoon, Mr Hijab's whereabouts were still unknown.

'Freedom and dignity'

Earlier, his spokesman Mohammed el-Etri told al-Jazeera TV that he was in "a safe location".

"I address you today at this grave hour where the country is living under the brunt of genocide and barbarian brutal killing against unarmed people who are simply demanding freedom and a dignified life," ran Mr Hijab's statement read by his spokesman.

"Today I declare... that I have defected from the terrorist, murderous regime and [am] joining the holy revolution. And I declare that from today I am a soldier of this holy revolution."

Mr el-Etri said the defection had been arranged with the Free Syrian Army months before.

He later told the BBC that the Syrian regime was "now in its last throes" and that it had been dealt "a fatal blow" by Mr Hijab's defection.

A BBC Arabic reporter in the capital said the explosion in Umawiyeen Square had "ripped the floor" but transmission was unaffected.

Pro-government forces have regained control of areas of Damascus seized by rebels in recent weeks but the rebels are continuing to hold out in the second city, Aleppo.

Opposition activists reported an intense bombardment of parts of Aleppo on Monday as 20,000 troops surround the northern city.

A spokeswoman for the exiled opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) told French radio station Europe1 that Aleppo was undoubtedly facing "carnage".

Meanwhile, Iran has strongly denied that 48 Iranians seized by Syrian rebels at the weekend include members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

Rebels posted an online video of the Iranians on Sunday, saying they had been seized from a bus in Damascus the day before.

The rebels alleged they were on a reconnaissance mission in the capital.

Tehran, a key ally of President Assad, says they were visiting a renowned Shia pilgrimage site and has appealed to Turkey and Qatar to help secure their release. A rebel commander said their documents were still being checked.

He was only PM for 4 months, but it should be quite a blow for the regimes credibility.

[Broomstick]

I don't think this is a regime that really gives a fuck what the rest of the world thinks about it. I think the current crew would rather die than give up power. And apparently the rest of the population is willing to shed the blood required to accommodate them.

[Haruko]

What makes this all the more alarming is that this is just the latest of a long string of high level defections that have included several generals, secret police officials, etc, going over not only to the rebels but to neighboring Turkey.

And then there is the murder of the defense minister by his own body guard. Certainly not sunny times for the Syrian government.

[Sea Skimmer]

Most of the general who have defected are only brigadier generals, and many of them from training schools or supply services, rather then combat field commanders. The Prime Minster looks pretty bad, but he's also just not that important a position since the parliament is a rubber stamp. Really any public defection though is important in large part because it means your willing to very directly risk your families safety to make a point.

[Haruko]

Yeah, I heard many of these defectors are bringing their family across the border, too, out of this fear.

Also, I feel as if, even if the regime is far from losing grip on power, this stream of defections over the months -- and more to come, it may be fairly certain to surmise -- is contributing to public perception that it is. And I wonder if the mere perception of iron grip on power may be an important asset for the government to lose, even if the perception that that grip is loosening is not based on reality.

Along those lines, I wonder how confident the Syrians really are about the their government's ability to control the spreading flames that is the insurgency, if the refugee crises is only growing to the point that Turkey is starting to worry about the volume of refugees even as they continue to welcome the refugees with open arms. After all, it is no small matter to decide to leave one's country, as many thousands upon thousands have and are doing in Syria.