Riyad Farid Hijab

Riyad Farid Hijab during the Munich Security Conference 2016

Riyad Farid Hijab ( Arabic رياض فريد حجاب, DMG Riyāḍ Farīd Ḥiǧāb ; * 1966 in Deir ez-Zor ) is a Syrian politician . He was Prime Minister of the country from June 6 to August 6, 2012.

Education and career

Hijab was in 1966 in Deir ez-Zor in the Governorate Deir ez-Zor born. He received a PhD in agricultural engineering. From 1989 to 1998 he was president of the local branch of the National Union of Syrian Students . He was a member of the leadership of the Ba'ath Party from 1998 to 2004 and the National Progressive Front . From 2004 to 2008 he was secretary of the Deir-ez-Zor branch of the Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party .

Hijab was established by Decree No. 336 of 2008 Governor of Quneitra appointed on 22 February 2011 on Governor Latakia . On April 14, 2011, he was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, replacing Adel Safar , who became Syrian Prime Minister. After the parliamentary elections in 2012 , he was appointed prime minister on June 6, 2012 and tasked by President Bashar al-Assad with the formation of a government.

Just two months after being appointed Prime Minister, he and his family fled to neighboring Jordan on August 6, 2012 . Syrian state television said he had been fired. Hijab's spokesman confirmed the flight and the defection to opposition to the television station al-Jazeera . On August 14, 2012, at a public press conference in Amman , he stated that he had voluntarily joined the opposition and had not been fired as the government claims. He also stated that the Syrian leadership had collapsed militarily, economically and morally and controlled only 30% of the national territory.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Süddeutsche Zeitung: Assad's premier defected to the opposition , August 6, 2012 (accessed on August 6, 2012).
2. ↑ Daily Star: Syrian PM defects protesting 'genocide' , August 6, 2012 (accessed August 6, 2012).
3. ↑ Spiegel Online: Assad's Premier resigns to Jordan , August 6, 2012 (accessed August 6, 2012).
4. ^ Spiegel Online: Ex-Premier calls on the elite to desert , August 14, 2012 (accessed on August 14, 2012).