Syrian prime minister says he is ready to hand over the government to the opposition
BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali said early Sunday that the government is ready to “extend its hand” to the opposition and hand over its functions to a transitional government. “I am in my house and I have not left, and this is because of my belonging to this country,” Jalili said in a video statement. He said he would go to his office to continue work in the morning and called on Syrian citizens not to deface public property. He did not address reports that President Bashar Assad had left the country.
Assad already sent his wife and remaining children to Moscow to stay with their other son, who already lives in the city, for safety on December 5. Arab allies of the Syrian presidency called on him to flee the country and "set up a government in exile", but it remains to be seen how this would happen as his support network appears to be seriously weakened in recent days.