Syrian PM defects to opposition

Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab has defected from President Bashar al-Assad's government and joined the opposition, his spokesman said on Monday.

"I announce today my defection from the killing and terrorist regime and I announce that I have joined the ranks of the freedom and dignity revolution. I announce that I am from today a soldier in this blessed revolution," Hijab said in a statement read in his name by the spokesman on Al Jazeera television.

Syrian state TV said Hijab had been fired, but an official source in Amman said he had defected to neighboring Jordan.

The spokesman, Mohamed Atari, said Hijab was in a safe place with his extended family. His defection had been organized with the Free Syrian Army, the rebel force fighting against Assad's rule.

Jordan's information minister denies that the Syrian prime minister has defected to the neighboring kingdom and another government official says the premier will be leaving Amman soon for another country.

The second official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said Monday the defector Riad Hijab would be heading out of the Jordanian capital to Qatar or Turkey. Earlier, the same official confirmed Hijab had defected from Syria and was in Jordan along with his family.

Hijab is to leave Jordan for Qatar within days, following the example of other high-profile defectors, his spokesman Mohammad Otri told AFP.

"Hijab will go to Doha, where international media are based. He will leave for Qatar tomorrow, the day after or after a few days," Otri told AFP in the Jordanian capital.

A member of the Syrian opposition in Jordan said Hijab will travel to Qatar "in the coming few hours".

"We are currently coordinating to facilitate the departure of Hijab to Doha in the coming few hours. Seven of his brothers will stay in Jordan," he said, saying he had helped Hijab defect.

"We understand the sensitivity of this issue for Jordan. We do not want to create problems for the kingdom, which already has tense relations with the Syrian regime," he said, on condition of anonymity.

TV station bombing

In a separate development, a bomb ripped through the third floor of the state TV building in Damascus on Monday, shattering several offices and wounding at least three employees, Syrian TV said.

The explosion was the latest in the Syrian capital, which has seen a string of suicide attacks and other bombings in the past few months as the country's civil war has escalated and the rebels grow bolder in their tactics. The TV building, which also houses state-run radio, is located at the Umawiyyeen roundabout in central Damascus.

After Monday's blast, the TV remained on air despite what was another severe breach of a state institution and a heavily guarded area in the Syrian capital. A bomb that exploded in the state security headquarters in Damascus on July 18 killed four of Syria's top security leaders.

A pro-government private Syrian TV station, Al-Ikhbariya, broadcast images of the damage at the state TV building. The footage showed destroyed walls, overturned desks, blown-out cabinet doors, broken glass and dangling electricity cables. A few TV workers were shown tending to a wounded colleague.

Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said the bomb blast caused heavy material damage and light injuries among the employees.

He blamed Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Israel for the attack. Syrian authorities accuse the Gulf countries and Israel of supporting the rebels fighting against Assad's troops and fueling the insurgency in Syria.

Reuters-AFP-AP