Syria’s prime minister completed his defection by crossing into Jordan at dawn yesterday after two days of hiding inside his homeland, according to Jordanian officials and a spokesman for the rebel Free Syrian Army.

Earlier statements were meant to confuse the Syrian regime

They described an operation which involved deceiving the media into reporting that Prime Minister Riad Hijab had already made it to Jordan so the Syrians would stop looking for him.

FSA spokesman Ahmed Kassem, who told the Associated Press on Monday that Mr Hijab had defected, said yesterday that he had actually been inside Syrian territory for the past two days waiting to cross.

He said the rebels’ earlier statements to reporters were meant to “confuse the Syrian regime over the Prime Minister’s whereabouts”.

“Indeed, we pulled off the trick and luckily it worked,” Mr Kassem said in a telephone interview from his base in Turkey, which supports the rebels in the Syrian civil war.

“The Syrian army believed that the Prime Minister had already left Syrian territory and stopped looking for him,” he said. “That facilitated our plan to smuggle him out to Jordan.”

It was not immediately possible to confirm the account independently.

Jordanian officials, who on Monday gave conflicting accounts of whether Mr Hijab had already crossed the border, now say that the defection took place early yesterday.

A security official said the FSA had notified Jordanian authorities that the defecting prime minister was on his way to the kingdom. He declined to say when.

“We co-ordinated closely to ensure his safe arrival,” said the security official.

Information Minister Sameeh Maaytah announced Mr Hijab’s arrival via the state Petra News Agency yesterday, saying he crossed into Jordan at dawn. He declined to answer repeated calls by the AP.

Mr Kassem said Mr Hijab crossed with 35 family members, including his wife and children, his seven brothers and two sisters and their families. He said they were assisted by 400 trained FSA fighters.