The sacking and defection of the Syrian PM

We will all have heard about the defection of the Syrian PM. This report (about 12 hours old now) gives a more complicated version of events

Syrian Prime Minister sacked – state TV

RT,

6 August, 2012

Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Hijab has been sacked, state TV reported. His current whereabouts are unknown, and there are conflicting reports as to whether he has fled the country.

Hijab, Syria’s former Minister of Agriculture, was appointed Prime Minister in June following parliamentary elections in the country.

The ex-Prime Minister is currently in Jordan, where he fled with his family, Reuters cited a Jordanian official as saying.

Hijab’s former spokesperson Muhammad el-Etri confirmed the report. The former Prime Minister has defected from the Syrian government and traveled to Jordan with ten family members, where he will join the Syrian opposition forces, el-Etri told Al-Jazeera.

However, Jordanian Minister of Information Samih al-Maaytah denied that Hijab is in the country.

Meanwhile, Al-Arabiya reported that the defected premier would travel to Qatar.

Omar Ghalawanji, the country’s Minister of Local Administration, will temporarily assume Hijab's duties before a new Prime Minster is appointmented, the Syrian TV report said.

The news comes less than a month after four key Syrian military officials, including the Defense Minister, were killed in a suicide bombing at a national security building in the capital of Damascus.

Levels of violence in the country remain high. A bomb blast at a state TV and radio building in Damascus wounded three people on Monday. Fighting continues in Aleppo, where government troops and armed opposition forces are battling for control of the city.

Opposition alleges more defections

In addition to Hijab, three other members of Assad’s cabinet have defected, opposition sources claimed.

Three army generals also fled the country, separate rebel reports said. The allegations were quickly picked up by international media.

Treasurer Mohamad Gillati, one of the cabinet members alleged to have fled, denied the rumors of his defection in a live Syrian TV broadcast.

...and another anti-war view on this

Syrian PM "Defection" Another PR Stunt

PM was only in office since June 2012 - had been planning "defection" for at least as long based on battlefield before "Damascus Volcano" fizzled. 

by Tony Cartalucci

Land Destroyer,

6 August, 2012

August 6, 2012 - Hailed by the Western press and its impressionable readers worldwide as the "latest blow to Assad," the departure of Syria's Prime Minister Riad Hijab followed a mere 2 months in office. Hijab had been Syria's agricultural minister since April of 2011, and only just recently was advanced to prime minister in June after recent elections were held in May 2012.

Image: Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab was in office for only 2 months before allegedly "defecting." According to an aide, he had been planning his departures "for months" meaning his decision was not based on current events in Syria - events that have decidedly seen NATO's momentum blunted after brazen terrorist attacks in Damascus and Aleppo were rolled back by a resilient Syrian Army. 

....

According to Hijab's aide, the "defection" was planned "for months," indicating that Hijab had apparently made his decision either upon becoming prime minister, or even beforehand - and that his decision to do so was not based on current events unfolding in Damascus or Aleppo, but on the lay of the battlefield "months" ago.

Months ago, NATO and its militant extremist front, the so-called "Free Syrian Army," were preparing for "Operation Damascus Volcano." Had Hijab become aware of the operation - an operation the Syrian government clearly knew about and was preparing for - the decision to escape being targeted in the operation by quietly agreeing to defect, might have been very tempting.

Speculation aside, Hijab's preparations to leave would have inevitably caught the attention of the Syrian government, jeopardizing his future prospects regardless of how "Operation Damascus Volcano" turned out. For Hijab, NATO and its FSA proxies failed to materialize the momentum they sought with the assassination of top Syrian officials and militant attacks on Damascus and Aleppo, meaning that the government Hijab had quietly turned against would be in power significantly longer than expected.

Additionally, the brevity of Hijab's premiership precluded his ability to provide any meaningful tactical or operational capacity to solving Syria's current crisis, even if he possessed the capability of doing so. His loss, for whatever reason, will ultimately be of little consequence inside Syria, and serve only a muted role in boosting morale for NATO's terrorist front on and around the Turkish-Syrian border, and the West's sagging, morally bankrupt propaganda campaign abroad.