Defections Rattle Syrian Regime
Syria’s Prime Minister Riyad Hijab has confirmed his defection from the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
Rime Allaf, a Middle East associate with the London-based think tank Chatham House, says the defection is not a major blow to the regime’s survival, but is nonetheless another embarrassment for Syria’s government.
“Today is really a big blow in the sense that it will not make the regime crumble, but it is absolutely humiliating for the regime to have its own prime minister defecting,” Rime says, adding, “Bashar Assad and his allies cannot know anymore on whom they can count.”
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