If
confirmed, Hijab's defection would be the highest-ranking of the
17-month uprising, and a new blow to President Bashar al-Assad, who has
already seen no fewer than 31 of his generals cross the border into
Turkey to join the rebellion and a growing number of his ambassadors
break ranks.
Hijab
was a leading Sunni Muslim in Assad's minority Alawite-dominated
government. His home province of Deir Ezzor in the northeast has been
one of the key battlegrounds of the conflict and seen a mounting death
toll from operations by the army in recent weeks.
"Riad
Hijab has defected from the regime," the director of the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told a news agency.
Abdel Rahman said there were conflicting reports on Hijab's current whereabouts.
"Some sources say he has arrived in Jordan, others say he was arrested before making his escape," said Abdel Rahman.
State
television reported that Deputy Prime Minister and Local Government
Minister Omar Ghalawanji had been appointed caretaker premier.
"Prime Minister Riad Hijab has been dismissed," it said in a terse report.
According
to the state-owned newspaper, Hijab presided over two meetings at the
local government ministry on Sunday to discuss "measures to redevelop
areas that have been cleansed of armed terrorists."
The
46-year-old was only appointed on June 6 following a widely boycotted
May 7 parliamentary election that was hailed as a centerpiece of reform
by the Assad regime but dismissed as a farce by Arab and Western
governments.
An
agricultural engineer by training, he was agriculture minister under
his predecessor government Adel Safar who was appointed in April 2011,
shortly after the outbreak of the uprising.
The
morning bombing struck management offices on the third floor of the
television building in the heavily protected Omayyad district of the
capital.
"It is clear that the blast was caused by an explosive device," said Information Minister Omran al-Zoabi.
"Syria's television is being targeted because of its bravery," Zoabi said.
"But
nothing will stop the voice of Syria." On June 27, gunmen armed with
explosives attacked the Al-Ikhbariya offices outside Damascus killing
three journalists and four security guards.
On Saturday, rebel fighters attacked the state television building in Syria's second city, Aleppo.
"May this be a lesson to all those who support the regime," it said.
In
Aleppo, the army bombarded a string of rebel neighbourhoods after
government security officials said that troops had completed their
build-up and that a 20,000-strong force was poised for a ground assault.
A
rebel commander was killed in the Salaheddin district in the southwest,
and troops shelled the Palace of Justice, as well as the Marjeh and
Shaar districts, the Syrian Observatory said. A total of nine people
were killed in Aleppo early today, among them eight civilians, the
watchdog.
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