Syrian premier goes on the run after only two months in job

The departure of Riad Hijab for neighbouring Jordan is evidence that the widening cracks in president Bashar’s Assad’s regime have reached the highest levels of government.

Mr Hijab – who planned the break for weeks, according to an aide – is the highest-level political figure to switch sides and is certain to encourage rebels after a string of military and diplomatic figures abandoned the regime.

A senior United States official said the defection was more evidence that the Assad regime “is crumbling.”

The Syrian regime has suffered a series of significant setbacks over the past month that point to a loosening of its grip on the country.

Four of the president’s top security aides were killed in a rebel bombing of state security headquarters in the capital Damascus on July 18, including the defence minister and Mr Assad’s brother in law. There has been a steady stream of high-level defections from diplomats to generals. And the regime has been unable to fully subdue rebel challenges in the two major cities, Damascus and Aleppo.

But power remains closely held within Mr Assad’s inner circle and even posts such as the prime minister have limited clout. Because he is not part of that elite, Mr Hijab’s departure will not immediately undercut the regime’s ability to fight rebels but such defections carry symbolic importance and highlight that dissent reaches into the upper levels of government.

Mr Hijab is part of Syria’s Sunni majority, which forms the bedrock of the opposition in the 17-month-uprising that has claimed at least 19,000 lives. Only hours before word of the defection got out, Mr Assad suffered another blow in his attempt to portray he is in control: A bomb ripped through the third floor of the state TV building in Damascus, wounding at least three employees and displaying the ability of rebels to strike in the heart of the capital.

Mohammad Otari, Mr Hijab’s spokesman, said the minister was appointed about two months ago and started planning his defection at that time. He said Mr Hijab asked rebels from the Free Syrian Army to help him to escape, which they did.

“The criminal Assad pressed him to become a prime minister and left him no choice but to accept the position. He had told him: ‘You either accept the position or get killed,’” said Mr Otari, who said that Mr Hijab and his family planned to travel on from Amman to Qatar, one of the main state backers of the rebels.

“The prime minister defected from the regime of killing, maiming and terrorism. He considers himself a soldier in the revolution,” Mr Otari said.

Mr Hijab left with his family and seven brothers, including two who held top government posts at the ministries of oil and environment

A former agriculture minister, Mr Hijab was considered a loyalist in Mr Assad’s ruling Baath party.

Syrian TV said the bomb which ripped through the third floor of the state TV building in Damascus damaged several offices and wounded at least three employees.

The explosion was the latest in the Syrian capital, which has seen a string of suicide attacks and other bombings in the past few months as the country’s civil war has escalated and the rebels grow bolder in their tactics.

The TV building, which also houses state-run radio, is at the Umawiyyeen roundabout in central Damascus.

After yesterday’s blast, the TV station remained on air. A pro-government private Syrian TV station, Al-Ikhbariya, broadcast images of the damage at the state TV building, showing destroyed walls and overturned desks.