Syrian dissident premier denies reports of secret meetings to unify opposition

Syrian dissident Prime Minister Riad Hijab denied reports published in the London-based al-Hayat about the unification of opposition forces in Syria.

“It is not true that secret meetings were held in the Jordanian capital Amman to unify military and political opposition factions and that an agreement was reached in this regard,” he said in statement issued by his office.

Hijab, however, said he welcomes all initiatives that aim at bringing different factions under the same banner.

“Those factions are already unified in one important matter: bringing down the Syrian regime,” he said.

Hijab argued that the unification of the opposition is extremely important because it is bound to speed up the victory against Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

“It will also stop the bloodshed much faster and will put an end to the daily sacrifices of the Syrian people,” he added.

Hijab, the most prominent official defector in Syria, was the prime minister from June till August 2012 and before that was the Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform. The Syrian government had announced that Hijab was dismissed, but shortly after his spokesman announced that he defected to join the revolution.

Hijab left Syria on Aug. 6 heading for Jordan where he is currently staying.