by Hani Hazaimeh | Aug 09, 2012 | JORDAN TIMES

Defected Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Hijab (L) sits with members of the Free Syrian Army in Deraa August 7, 2012. Hijab entered Jordan in the early hours of Wednesday August 8, 2012 along with family members, according to Jordanian Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Sameeh Maytah (REUTERS/Free Syria TV)

AMMAN — Riad Hijab, former Syrian prime minister who defected to the opposition three days ago, is currently safe and sound somewhere in Amman with 35 members of his family and relatives.

But the journey from Damascus to Amman was one of the most complicated escapes, involving a complicated intelligence and spy war between the Syrian regime and rebels, who helped the so far highest-ranking Syrian official defect with his family.

According to rebel leaders, the man went through very tough times trying to evade the Syrian regime’s spies and intelligence agents who moved heaven and earth trying to locate him, while jet fighters intensively bombed areas where Hijab was suspected to be hiding.

According to the Free Syrian Army (FSA), Hijab’s defection has been planned for the past few weeks; however, opposition fighters waited for the right moment to smuggle him with his family, including his brothers and sisters and their offspring out of the country.

A Syrian opposition activist in Jordan, Nabegh Srour, who is familiar with the stages of the operation, told The Jordan Times on Thursday that the FSA was very tactical and made several manoeuvres to distract Syrian intelligence.

“The opposition fighters kept moving him [Hijab] from town to town under heavy protection in a well coordinated camouflage operation,” he said.

“They used four-wheel drive vehicles for transportation due to the rough terrain of the agricultural roads they drove through. It was a big challenge for the opposition to secure his safety and to get him out of the country as soon as possible,” Srour said, adding that the operation took them three days to make it to the Jordanian-Syrian border.

The rebels were able to deceive the Syrian regime while trying to secure safe passage for the Hijabs, including misinformation carried through what they believed to be tapped phone calls, fake convoys heading to different directions and using primitive communication means to bypass electronic espionage.

“It was a very hard, complicated and very exhausting operation and involved different armed groups,” said Lt. Col. Yasser Aboud in a video call to Al Jazeera TV channel, as he was describing the well-coordinated operation, adding that they knew that the Syrian intelligence was censoring their communications so they used that in their favour by sending out illusive and wrong messages.

“We knew that the regime would be intensifying their search operation. So while we were heading south towards the Jordanian border, we used to send messages to our groups that we were heading north towards the Turkish border,” Aboud said.

In the meantime, the opposition seemed to have used the media reporting in their favour by spreading news over Hijab’s whereabouts in order to distract the attention of the Syrian regime, who, according to Srour, used to shell areas they suspected of housing Hijab.

On Monday, foreign and Arab media reported that Hijab had crossed the border into Jordan, which was repeatedly denied by Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications and Government Spokesperson Samih Maayath in the aftermath.

As soon as Hijab’s convoy was approaching the border, a power outage took place on the Jordanian side of the border in order to cover up the entry of Hijab and his relatives, an official who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Jordan Times Thursday, an indication that the Jordanian side were informed in advance of the operation. Residents said several VIP vehicles were seen coming into the area.

According to a senior official familiar with the case, Hijab was very exhausted when he arrived in the Kingdom, adding that he was rushed to Amman where he is currently staying under heavy security protection.