In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, a Syrian security force inspects the scene after a bomb ripped through the third floor of the state TV building in Damascus, Syria, on Monday, Aug. 6, 2012. The bomb shattered several offices and wounded several employees, Syrian TV said. (AP Photo/SANA)
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Associated Press /Chattanooga Times Free Press.
BEIRUT (AP) — A rebel spokesman says four Syrian Cabinet ministers have defected, including the prime minister.
Prime Minister Riad Hijab is the highest level government official to defect in the 17-month uprising.
Ahmad Kassim, a senior official with the Free Syrian Army, said Monday that Hijab defected to Jordan along with three other ministers. The other ministers' identities were not immediately known.
The remarks came shortly after Syrian state-run TV said Hijab was fired from his post, less than two months after taking office. Hijab is a former agriculture minister and a loyalist in Assad's ruling Baath party.
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