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via Syrian prime minister defects to Jordan | The Times of Israel.

Three other ministers also leave tottering regime

Riad Hijab (photo credit: CC BY Al Manar TV, Wikipedia)

BEIRUT — Syria’s prime minister reportedly defected to Jordan Monday, the latest and highest-profile in a series of defections from President Bashar Assad’s regime.

An official in Amman reported that Riad Hijab defected to Jordan with his family. Three others ministers reportedly defected with him, as well as several high-ranking army officials.

Hijab released a statement from Jordan saying he had “joined the ranks of the freedom and dignity revolution,” Al-Jazeera reported.

Hijab’s spokesman, Mohammad Otari, said the operation has been planned for months and was designed to strike a blow to Assad’s regime from within.

“This defection has been being planned for more than two months. He was given two options: to either take the office of prime minister or be killed. He had a third option in mind: to plan his own defection in order to direct a blow to the regime from within and today he is declaring his defection,” Otari told Al Jazeera.

Syrian state TV claimed he had been fired.

Hijab is a former agriculture minister and a loyalist in President Bashar Assad’s ruling Baath party. He is the first cabinet minister to defect.

Hijab was appointed as prime minister on June 23. Omar Ghalawanji, Hijab’s deputy prime minister, was named as a temporary replacement.

The announcement came hours after a bomb attack ripped through the third floor of the state TV building in Damascus, causing heavy material damage and light injuries.

A deadly uprising has convulsed Syria for the past 17 months.

Other high profile defection in the last several months include Manaf Tlas, the son of a former defense minister, and a high-ranking intelligence official who fled on Sunday.

The Syrian finance minister apparently tried to flee as well but was caught in the process, Al Arabiya reported.

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