Former Syrian Prime Minister Claims Assad Regime Is Collapsing
August 14, 2012
Former Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab, who defected to Jordan on August 6, told reporters today that the Syrian government is collapsing “morally, financially and militarily.” Speaking at a news conference in Amman, the Jordanian capital, he claimed that the Syrian government is currently in control of no more than 30 percent of the country. Hijab declared that he is joining the rebel side, and he urged Syrian military officers to break with President Bashar al-Assad’s regime: “I urge the army to follow the example of Egypt’s and Tunisia’s armies–take the side of people.” He also urged the opposition to organize a transitional government with the aim of forging “a civilian democratic state that preserves the right, justice and dignity of all Syrians.”
In Syria’s capital, Damascus, security forces are raiding rebel strongholds, and people are reportedly fleeing the center of the city, fearing the kind of major military offensive still going on in Aleppo. Yesterday, rebels claimed to have shot down a Syrian fighter jet using heavy antiaircraft artillery, raising new questions about their military capabilities. “The downing of the plane puts in place new rules of engagement and rules of dissuasion,” noted Sami Nader, an analyst and professor of international relations in Beirut, Lebanon. “Assad’s trump card was the military, but he is now losing this last card.” The rebels claimed to have seized the antiaircraft artillery from a Syrian military base. However, Nader suggested that the true source of the antiaircraft missiles was the rebels’ allies in the Middle East, who do not want to be seen as fueling the conflict. Defectors with knowledge of the inner workings of the Assad regime have proposed that the Syrian civil war is increasingly becoming a proxy war, with Iran and Russia backing Assad and Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar funneling arms and money to the rebels.
Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar are now believed to be supplying arms and money to the Syrian rebels. Experts on the conflict suggest that Russia and Iran are backing the Assad regime. (World Book map)
According to human rights activists, at least 21,000 people have been killed since the uprising began in March 2011. An estimated 1 million people have been displaced by the violence.
Additional World Book articles:
- Arab Spring
- Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a Special Report)
- Syria 2011 (a Back in Time article)
