SYRIAN STATE TV has denied suggestions that the country’s vice-president Faruq al-Shara has defected from the governing regime – saying the reports were a result of confusion from a private TV broadcaster.
“Mr Shara has never thought about leaving the country or going anywhere,” said State TV, which aired no footage of the vice-president.
Speculation had spread that Shara had quit the regime of Bashar al-Assad after the private Al-Arabiya TV channel broadcast a report saying the vice-president’s cousin had defected.
A banner scrolling across the bottom of the screen, discussing the news, had simply referred to the cousin as ‘Shara’.
“The cousin of the Syrian vice-president Faruq al-Shara announces his defection in an exclusive recording via Al-Arabiya,” Reuters quoted the channel as saying.
It broadcast a statement from the cousin, named as Yarab al-Shara, who called on members of the Syrian army to join the “revolution”.
The 73-year-old vice-president is the most powerful Sunni Muslim figure in Assad’s minority Alawite-led regime. He has served in top posts for almost 30 years.
Shara has been vice president since 2006 and previously served as foreign minister for more than 20 years both under Assad and his father and predecessor Hafez al-Assad.
The television said Shara’s statement also hailed the appointment of a new UN envoy to the country. Lakhdar Brahimi, a veteran Algerian diplomat, is taking over from Kofi Annan.
- © AFP, 2012; additional reporting by Gavan Reilly.
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