Former Syrian Prime Minister Assails Assad Government: Syria’s former prime minister, Riyad Farid Hijab, who def...http://nyti.ms/OqHP3l
The New York Times 9:07 AM - 14 Aug 12 via twitterfeed · Details
x-Prime Minister of Syria Assails Assad Government
Goran Tomasevic/Reuters
A rebel fighter fired from an apartment in Aleppo on Tuesday.
By DAMIEN CAVE and DALAL MAWAD
Published: August 14, 2012
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BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syria’s former prime minister, who fled the country last week, said on Tuesday in his first public appearance since his defection that the government of President Bashar al-Assadwas crumbling internally under the pressure from constant fighting of rebels and from betrayals by loyalists who want only to flee.
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Majed Jaber/Reuters
The former Syrian prime minister, Riyad Farid Hijab, spoke on Tuesday in Amman, Jordan.
“Based on my experience and my position, the regime is falling apart morally, materially, economically,” the former official, Riyad Farid Hijab, said at a news conference in Amman,Jordan. “Its military is rusting, and it only controls 30 percent of Syria’s territory.”
He added that many high-level civilian and military officials in Syria — “leaders with dignity” — were waiting to defect. Mr. Hijab said he fled the Syrian capital, Damascus, because the government threatened his family and had no reasonable means to end the violence. He also urged the opposition to unify and to move ahead with plans for a transitional government and “a civilian democratic state that preserves the right, justice and dignity of all Syrians.”
But he said he had no interest in a formal position. “I have sacrificed myself in the campaign of righteousness,” he said. “I don’t want to satisfy anyone but God.”
Mr. Hijab’s claims about the weakness of the Assad government could not be independently verified, and he gave few details to support his harsh assessment. A Sunni technocrat from the eastern city of Deir al-Zour — which has been enduring shelling and fighting for weeks — Mr. Hijab was not a member of Mr. Assad’s inner circle, and he was appointed to the position of prime minister only in June.
But analysts have said that as the highest-level civilian official to defect, he may have had access to reliable internal assessments or government sources. His argument that the government is weakening follows similar descriptions from other defectors, who have suggested that Mr. Assad’s grip on power has been loosening even as Syria increasingly becomes a proxy war, with Iran and Russia assisting the government as Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia funnel aid to the rebels.
The rebels on Tuesday said that the fight for control continued. Activists reported growing numbers of refugees flowing out of Damascus, with clashes spreading and families in many areas fearing a major assault from government forces. In Aleppo as well, fighting continued on Tuesday, with rebels trying to hold contested areas amid an extended government ground assault. Mr. Hijab’s appearance came a day after rebels said they had shot down a Syrian fighter jet for the first time. That episode on Monday raised new questions about the opposition’s military capabilities, and whether Syria’s control of the skies might be threatened.
The Syrian authorities insisted that the jet had crashed because of a technical failure, but rebel groups and activists sought to win over skeptics by turning to YouTube. They posted one 33-second video showing a jet bursting into flames, and a second clip showing a man who identified himself as the ejected pilot, Farid Mohammed Suleiman. He told his captors in the video that he had been ordered to fire on an area in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, and when an armed fighter beside him asked what he would like to say to the Syrian Army, he said, “I tell them to defect from this gang.”
The videos, shared widely online, seemed intended to provide a morale boost for rebel fighters, who have been complaining about the Syrian military’s undisputed air power for months. The videos set off another round of speculation about whether Mr. Assad could maintain his military advantage in the 17-month-old conflict for much longer.
“Regardless of how they did it, if they can put down a jet fighter, then they can put down other planes as well,” said Sami Nader, an analyst and professor of international relations at St. Joseph University in Beirut. “The downing of the plane puts in place new rules of engagement and rules of dissuasion. The Free Syrian Army is showing us it can impose a no-fly zone. Assad’s trump card was the military, but he is now losing this last card.”
What brought the jet down, however, was a matter of dispute.
Local activists said rebel fighters used a heavy antiaircraft machine gun that a local brigade had seized from a nearby military base. Qassem, an activist in the area, which is known as Mohassen and is about 15 miles from the city of Deir al-Zour, said the rebels had commandeered the weapon a month ago, and had used it once to bring down a helicopter.
Mr. Nader said the rebels could be lying. He said they might not be admitting that they have antiaircraft missiles provided by international allies because those allies did not want to be seen as fueling the conflict.
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C. J. Chivers contributed reporting from Tal Rifaat, Syria, Alan Cowell from London, and Hwaida Saad and Sebnem Arsu from Antakya, Turkey.
