Blow to Assad as PM defects, flees to Jordan

Aug 07, 2012 |

Syria’s Prime Minister Riad Hijab joined the anti-regime revolt and fled abroad, in what Washington and the Opposition hailed Monday as a major blow to President Bashar al-Assad.

In the highest-ranking defection of the nearly 17-month uprising, Mr Hijab, a key Sunni Muslim in the Assad regime, said he was joining the rebels after slipping across the border into Jordan Sunday night.
He accused his former master of carrying out “genocide” against his own people, and said four decades of Assad family rule was crumbling.
“I announce my defection today from the regime of killing and terror, and I join the ranks of the revolt,” he said.

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