Syrian Prime
Minister defects to opposition
kl:17,00 07|08|2012 Sawtalkurd
Today's Top
Stories
- Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Farid Hijab flees with his family to Jordan, marking the highest-level regime defection thus far.
- An explosion shocks the Syrian state television station in Damascus and a Free Syrian Army official threatens to execute the arrested Iranians if the regime refuses to stop shelling rebel-held cities.
- Syrian state TV says that more than 20,000 troops are preparing to raid Aleppo city, while MIG fighter jets and heavy artillery continue bombarding rebel-held areas
Today's Top
Videos
- FSA Council claims responsibility for prime minister’s defection, P2
- Moadamiya, Damascus Suburbs: Regime forces slaughter nine civilians with knives, P2, P3
- Khaldiya, Aleppo: Scores of civilians die as a result of heavy shelling, P2, P3
Today's Statistics
- Death Toll: 260 (Aleppo: 59, Damascus Suburbs: 41, Idlib: 27, Homs: 20, Damascus: 17, Deir Azzour: 15, Hama: 12, Daraa: 7, Aleppo Suburbs: 7, Raqa: 1, Latakia: 1, Qunaitera: 1)
- Free Syrian Army key operations:
- Killed at least 57 army soldiers throughout the country.
- Destroyed many military tanks and vehicles in the province of Idlib.
- Captured several neighbourhoods in the town of Mayadin in Deir Azzour.
Summary of
Events
The spokesperson for Syrian Prime Minister Riyad
Farid Hijab said in a televised statement today that Hijab has defected to the
opposition and he is now with his family in Jordan. The move marked the
highest-level defection from President Bashar al-Assad’s government since the
start of the uprising. Syrian state TV reported that the government had actually
terminated him, while Jordanian government spokesman Samih Maaytah said Hijab
had not entered the country. FSA officials said they began planning Hijab’s
defection from the regime two months ago, adding that additional defections will
be announced in the coming days. The Syrian government temporarily appointed as
premier Deputy Prime Minister Omar Ghlawenji. Additionally, a Major General,
along with five other senior officers and 30 soldiers, fled to Turkey. A police
officer and 40 policemen also defected to the rebels in the province of
Hasaka.
An early morning blast caused light damage and injuries at the
Syrian state television station in Damascus. The spokesman of the Al-Baraa
Brigade in Damascus said that three out of the 48 Iranians arrested yesterday
were killed in shelling by regime forces that targeted the building where they
were incarcerated. The spokesman also said his forces would execute the
prisoners if the regime refuses to stop shelling rebel-held
cities.
Syrian state television said that more than 20,000 troops are
preparing to raid the city of Aleppo, as MIG fighters jets and heavy artillery
continued bombarding the rebel-held neighbourhoods and towns, killing and
wounding many civilians. The shelling focused on the neighbourhoods of Sakhour,
Bustan Qaser, Masharqa, Masaken Hanano, Saladin, Hollob and Sha’ar and the
provincial towns of Sahara and Kafarhalab. Meanwhile, 13 corpses with mortal
knife wounds were discovered in the neighbourhood of the Khaldiya and identified
as detainees from a government prison.
Regime forces killed nine
civilians with knives in the Damascus suburb of Moadamiya. It also massacred
nine civilians—including three children—and wounded at least 50 more in the Hama
suburb of Hurbnaf.
Regime forces continued attacks on the neighbourhoods
of Tadamon, Muhajerein, Salhiya and Ruken Adin in Damascus, while bombarding its
provincial towns of Harastra, Moadamiya, Zabadani, Kafarbatna and Jesrein,
killing and wounding many. It also resumed shelling the Daraa suburbs of Taffas,
Bosra and Khirbet Ghazaleh, and carried out sweeps, arbitrary arrests, looting
and arson in the towns of Baser Harir and Mzereib. It shelled the neighbourhoods
of Deirh Baalba, Khaldiay and Jouret Sheyah in the city of Homs and its
provincial towns of Talbiseh, Talkhalakh and Rastan. The heavy shelling also
continued in the city of Deir Azzour and its provincial towns of Abu Kamal and
Mayadin as well as in the Rabea district and Salma resorts in the province of
Latakia. The regime also shelled the district of Jesser Ashoghour in the
province of Idlib and its provincial towns of Kafarnable, Ariha and Ma’arrat
Naman.