PM defection shows Assad regime 'disintegrating': Opposition

BEIRUT (AFP) - The leader of the opposition Syrian National Council said the defection on Monday of prime minister Riyad Hijab showed the regime of President Bashar al-Assad is "disintegrating."

"We welcome the defection of Riyad Hijab and those of all the other civilian and military officials," Mr Abdel Basset Sayda told AFP by telephone.

"This defection shows that the regime is disintegrating. It is the beginning of the end." In a statement, the SNC renewed its call to officials still loyal to Mr Assad's regime to defect.

"There are no more excuses to stay on board the criminal regime's ship," the statement said. "It is time to choose between loyalty to Syria and its people, or to a murderous, terrorist gang, whose hour of reckoning and punishment is nigh."