Riad Hijab: Syria's Prime Minister Who Fled After 64 Days

Riad Hijab was appointed Prime Minister on June 23, 2012 — a Sunni technocrat from Deir ez-Zor, the appointment part of Assad's effort to maintain Sunni representation in the government facade while the real power remained with the security establishment. He served 64 days. On August 6, 2012, his spokesman Mohammad Otari read a statement in Amman: 'I announce today that I have defected from the terrorist, murderous regime and I am joining the ranks of the freedom and dignity revolution. I call on every officer and soldier in the Syrian Arab Army to defect.' Hijab and his family had been smuggled out of Syria. The defection was organized with assistance from Qatar and Jordan. The Assad government quickly dismissed it as a 'minor' development and described Hijab as having been fired. Hijab's press conference in Amman, broadcast live across the Arab world, showed a composed man describing in specific terms the regime's decision-making — that Assad personally ordered the military operations against civilians.