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SANA via EPA
A picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency shows policemen inspecting the damage at the state-run Syrian TV building in Damascus after a bomb ripped through its third floor.
AMMAN, Jordan - Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Hijab has defected to the opposition seeking to overthrow President Bashar Assad, a spokesman for Hijab said Monday, marking one of the most high-profile desertions from the Damascus government.
Syrian state TV said Hijab had been fired, but an official source in Amman told Reuters that the dismissal followed his defection to neighboring Jordan with his family.
Khaled Al-Hariri / Reuters, file
Syrian television reported on Monday that Prime Minister Riyad Hijab had been fired. His purported spokesman said he had defected to Jordan.
"I announce today my defection from the killing and terrorist regime and I announce that I have joined the ranks of the freedom and dignity revolution. I announce that I am from today a soldier in this blessed revolution," Hijab said in a statement read in his name by Mohammad Otari, who identified himself as Hijab's spokesman, on Al Jazeera television.
Ahmad Kassim, a senior official with the Free Syrian Army, told The Associated Press that Hijab defected to Jordan along with three other ministers.
"Don't be scared. Defect from this criminal regime," Otari said in the televised statement, urging other Syrians to join the defecting ministers.
Otari denied that his boss had been fired, and added that the defection was planned "for months" and was executed in conjunction with the Free Syrian Army, the main armed opposition group in Syria.
The news follows other high-level defections -- including that of Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlas -- and deaths of the country's defense minister and as well as his powerful brother-in-law in a bomb blast in Damascus in July.
A bomb rips through Syria's state television building in Damascus, while the country is also rocked by the news of the Prime Minister's defection to the opposition. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
From restive Deir al-Zour
Syrian state TV announced Hijab's dismissal as government forces appeared to prepare a ground assault to clear battered rebels from Aleppo, the country's biggest city.
Journalist: British militants took me hostage in Syria
Assad appointed Hijab, a former agriculture minister, as prime minister only in June following a parliamentary election that authorities said was a step toward political reform but which opponents dismissed as a sham.
"Hijab is in Jordan with his family," said the Jordanian official source, who did not want to be further identified. The source told Reuters that Hijab had defected to Jordan before the announcement that he was fired.
NBC News
People resisting the army of President Bashar al-Assad in northern Syria cope with loss and prepare for fighting.
Hijab is a Sunni Muslim from Deir al-Zour in eastern Syria, which has been caught up in the revolt, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported.
Syrian TV said Omar Ghalawanji, who was previously a deputy prime minister, had been appointed to lead a temporary caretaker government on Monday.
Earlier in the day, a bomb blast hit the Damascus headquarters of Syria's state broadcaster as troops backed by fighter jets kept up an offensive against the last rebel bastion in the capital.
In villages across Syria there is great concern for the city of Aleppo, where the violence seen in the last few days could be nothing compared to what's coming. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
The bomb exploded on the third floor of the state television and radio building, state TV said. However, while the rebels may have struck a symbolic blow in their 17-month-old uprising against Assad, Information Minister Omran Zoabi said none of the injuries was serious, and state TV continued broadcasting.
Rebels in districts of Aleppo visited by Reuters journalists seemed battered, overwhelmed and running low on ammunition after days of intense tank shelling and helicopter gunships strafing their positions with heavy machinegun fire.
Machine guns operated by motorcycle brakes? Get a glimpse at the rebels fighting against Assad's forces in Syria's mountainous Jabal al-Zawiya area.
Audacious attack
Emboldened by the audacious bomb attack in Damascus that killed four of Assad's top security officials last month, the rebels had tried to overrun the Damascus and Aleppo, the country's commercial hub.
But the lightly armed rebels have been outgunned by the Syrian army's superior weaponry. They were largely driven out of Damascus and are struggling to hold on to territorial gains made in Aleppo, a city of 2.5 million.
Damascus has criticized Gulf Arab states and Turkey for calling for the rebels to be armed, and state TV has described the rebels as "Turkish-Gulf militia," saying dead Turkish and Afghan fighters had been found in Aleppo.
Paralysis in the U.N. Security Council over how to stop the bloodshed forced peace envoy Kofi Annan to resign last week, his ceasefire plan a distant memory.
Activists report mortars hitting a Palestinian refugee camp in the Syrian capital. Meanwhile, Turkey has been holding military drills along its border with Syria. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
The violence has already shown elements of a proxy war between Sunni and Shiite Islam which could spill beyond Syria's border.
The rebels claimed responsibility for capturing 48 Iranians in Syria, forcing Tehran to call on Turkey and Qatar -- major supporters of the rebels -- to help secure their release.
Iran asks for help after dozens of pilgrims kidnapped in Syria
On Monday, Syrian army tanks shelled alleyways in Aleppo where rebels sought cover a helicopter gunship fired heavy machinegun fire.
Photojournalist John Cantlie tells Krishnan Guru-Murthy of the UK's Channel 4 News about the terrifying week he was held captive in Syria by radical Islamic militants, some of them British.
Snipers ran on rooftops targeting rebels, and one of them shot at a rebel car filled with bombs, setting the vehicle on fire. Women and children fled the city, some crammed in the back of pickup trucks, while others walked on foot, heading to relatively safer rural areas.
Aleppo gateway
The main focus of fighting in Aleppo has been the Salaheddine district, a gateway into the city. One shell hit a building next to the Reuters reporting team, pouring rubble on to the street and sending billows of smoke and dust into the sky.
State television said Assad's forces were "cleansing the terrorist filth" from the country, which has been sucked into an increasingly sectarian conflict that has killed about 18,000 people and could spill into neighboring states.
The army appeared to be using a similar strategy in Aleppo to the one used in other cities where they subjected opposition districts to heavy bombardment for days, weakening the rebels before moving in on the ground, clearing district by district.
Syria's two main cities had been relatively free of violence until last month when fighters poured into them, transforming the war. The government largely repelled the assault on Damascus but has had more difficulty recapturing Aleppo.
Explosions shake Syria capital as rebels renew attack
Rebel commanders say they anticipate a major Syrian army offensive in Aleppo and one fighter said they had already had to pull back from some streets after army snipers advanced on Saturday under cover of the fierce aerial and tank bombardment.
Rebels and regime forces continue their fight to control Syria's largest city. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.
"The Syrian army is penetrating our lines," Mohammad Salifi, a 35-year-old former government employee. "So we were forced to strategically retreat until the shelling ends," he said, adding the rebels were trying to push the army back again.
Late Sunday rebels clashed with the army in Aleppo's south-eastern Nayrab district, a fighter who called himself Abu Jumaa said.
The army responded by shelling eastern districts. There were also clashes on the southern ring road, which could be a sign the army was preparing to surround the city.
Reuters, The Associated Press and NBC News staff contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
Good for him, siding with his people.
His people are Jordanian?
No, he took his family to Jordan, he is siding with the Syrian rebels.
Read a little. He can do little toting a gun, but he can be voice for the rebels.
If you support the Syrian Rebels then you are supporting the Muslim extremist takeover of Syria.
The Muslim Brotherhoods welcomes your support. Some people say that Syria is engulfed in a 'civil war' but the truth is that the Islamists are trying to take over the country. One city at a time, then one country at a time, and soon they will all have nukes in their brotherhood with Iran.
BTW; did you notice the news today that the Muslim Brotherhood that took-over Egypt last year has now declared war on the infidels? Get used to it... one country at a time... we're going to see lots more of these takeovers...
No, I didn't notice that. Because it did not happen.
When the going gets tough, the tough defect.
To be expected more or less. The report does not state whether this lad was Alawite, Druze or Christian - in which case defection ( or firing ) may have meant something. Thus safe to assume Sunni. Since Sunni - hardly surprising given the fact that this is a sectarian war driven largely by external interests ( Russia, China and probably others on one side, and the US, Saudi Arabia and others on the other ). Just demonstrates that the sectarian fracture is extending. Given the stylistic features of his statement ( looks very programmed - that is mimics those of others ) one can assume he was appropriately tutored /told what to say. Unlikely this is going to end well for anyone, including the driving interests ( after all, consider our 'brilliant' success in Iraq and Afghanistan - and the 'genius thought' process that involved us in Iraq ). Civilians are clearly of no concern to those directly responsible, namely the FSA or the Syrian military, and also of zero concern to the driving interests despite their words.
Please don't make comments about the politics in a region you know nothing about. The experts that have been there and know the situation believe we are probably best to stay out of.
It is unfortunate that peace cannot be found, but unfortunately, sometime there is no peace to be found until after the war is fought.
We should feel fortunate that we are Americans and that we all share a common bondage that every single one of us is a descendant of someone who left everything they had behind to start a new life in here.
Let Syria destroy itself. Assad's regime is rotten to the core. If the rebels win, it'll just be same a different crust on the same pizza.
The opposition is in Jordan? Bit of a strange defection.
How much he got paid for defection? I guess couple millions $ in swiss bank,US passport will do it.
Congratulation US you got a new citizen! Do you see a new house on your street? Hijab wiil be your neighbor soon(with different name,of course).
LEGAL IMMIGRANT 66 You sound like you know what you are talking about buddy , were you one of these rats at one time , why is every country that we do not like their governments are rats , are so proud of your senators , the ones that want to send our troops to fight this fight for the Saudis and Qataris the same people that their Alqaida thugs attacked us on 9/11 . Assad never done anything to us , he is the only democratic leader in that part of the world that allows Christians to live in peace and practice their religion , unlike your friends the Saudis and Qataris and all of these no good Gulf states .
Syria had been under Alawite Shia faction for nearly 50 years. This sect is one of the minority Shia sect and yet was hold on to power in Syria for a number of reasons: (i) armed foerces (ii) state terrorissm against own people using Israel as bogeyman.
People get fed up with status quo over the period. Humans everywhere demand change. Nature itself changes order over periods of time. A wise politician is he one who knows when to bow out. USA is fortunate that it is a constitutional republic and has limited terms for executive. While legislative and judiciary has unlimited period terms of office, the executive has limited time. This is a very good system.
Though Clinton was good for economy, he would have become a tyrannical overlord had not his term of office was limited. If not for this provision, Bush would have led USA to the mud.
Now Syrians are forcing the issue. The Assad clan will definitely go. Whether the replacement will be for better or worse depends how the new powers in Syria will deal with (i) Lebanon, (ii) Kurds (iii) Turkey and finally (iv) Israel.
The Sunnis who will eventually lead Syria must note that Iran will stir up problems through their Shia proteges is Lebanon. The Iranians may strike Israel through Hezbollah and indirectly pull in Syria. This is one fear that haunts the world. If Assad, as a parting gift, gives Hezbollah the chemical weapons, then Damascus will be in serious trouble.
Will the new Sunni rulers clip the power of Hezbollah? If they want financial aid from Saudis, then Hariri's death must be avenged. So there could be Sunni-Shia massacre in Lebanon. The Shias have much power in Lebanon and the Druze, Sunnis and Christians would want to see Hezbollah cut to size. So there is going to be a lot of trouble for Israel's northen borders. One miscalculation and the entire region is going to go up in flames. Sometimes, it is better to let the lying dogs lie!
However, the scenario is going to play out, there is going to be much bloodshed. If WMDs such as chemical are used, then it is going to be horrible. If I were an Israeli or a Lebanese Sunni, Druze or Christian, I will shopping for the best gas mask!
God save humanity from this madness.
Now that the Olymbics are over, the real world news is back in the picture.. It might be nice for all Metal winners to return their Metals back to OAC..
And maybe the Olympic medal winners could return their medals, too.
Just curious, who wins metal and for what?