Riad Hijab is not a nice person. To spite what his spokesman has been telling Al Jazeera and Western media, Hijab is nothing more than a corrupt Assad crony. Reading his statement from today one might think that Hijab is a brave freedom fighter:
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’s spokesman Muhammad el-Etri continued this repulsive narrative in an interview with Al Jazeera:
This defection has been being planned for more than two months. He was given two options: to either take the office of prime minister or be killed. He had a third option in mind: to plan his own defection in order to direct a blow to the regime from within and today he is declaring his defection…
I believe he is the highest ranking official in Syria [to defect]… it is one of a kind and it will have grave repercussions on the regime and significant implication after the departure of the regime and [for] the success of the revolution.
Did Hijab have a problem 17 months ago when this all started? For that matter did Hijab have a problem at all with the way that Assad has brutally been ruling Syria since 2000? It’s not as if Assad suddenness started killing his own people and Hijab became disillusioned with the Baathist’s. Hijab is a Sunni who benefited politically and financially from a dictator who oppresses Sunni’s plain and simple. As the civil war becomes increasingly bad Hijab doesn’t want to be on the losing side of the conflict. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that Hijab is some poor innocent politician. Had the civil war never happened Hijab would be content with stealing and abusing the Syrian people.
Porkins Policy Review 