Former Syrian prime minister, Riyad Hijab, appeared publicly Tuesday for the first time since his defection, calling President Bashar al-Assad's government an "enemy of God" and saying it is collapsing.In a news conference in the Jordanian capital of Amman, Hijab said he defected last week from the government and joined the 17-month Syrian uprising of his own will. He said he was not dismissed from his post as Syrian authorities claimed and urged other Syrian leaders to break from the government.
[SUP]High Profile Defectors from Syria[/SUP]
[SUP]High Profile Defectors from Syria[/SUP]
- [SUP]Prime Minister Riad Hijab defected to Jordan on August 6, two months after taking top post.[/SUP]
- [SUP]Nawaf Fares, Syria's ambassador to Iraq became first Syrian envoy to defect on July 11, 2012.[/SUP]
- [SUP]Brigadier General Manaf Tlass, highest ranking military officer to abandon Syrian government on July 6, 2012.[/SUP]
- [SUP]Colonel Hassan Hammadeh flew his MiG-21 warplane to neighboring Jordan during a June, 2012, training mission and was granted asylum.[/SUP]
- [SUP]Imad Ghalioun, member of Syria’s parliament, left country in January, 2012, to join opposition.[/SUP]
- [SUP]Adnan Bakkour, former attorney general of Hama, appeared in video in late August 2011 announcing he had defected.[/SUP]