Syria's prime minister has defected two months after taking the job, saying he is joining the opposition to President Bashar al-Assad.

In a statement read in his name on Al Jazeera television Monday, Riad Hijab said he was leaving what he called “the killing and terrorist regime.”

The statement said he and his family were in a safe place. Jordanian officials said he had defected to Jordan.

Syrian state television said Mr. Hijab was fired and replaced by his deputy, Omar Ghalawanji.

The news came hours after state media said a bomb exploded at the state television building in Damascus, wounding several people. The station remained on the air following the blast, which ripped through the third floor of the building.

A pro-government, private TV station, which itself was hit with a deadly blast in June, broadcast images of the building's damaged walls, wires dangling from a collapsed ceiling and people walking through smoke-filled hallways.

Syrian opposition activists are reporting continued attacks by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo Monday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the army is shelling several neighborhoods in Aleppo, and that nationwide nearly 30 civilians had been killed.

Government and opposition claims in Syria are difficult to verify because journalists do not have a freedom of movement.

Meanwhile, U.S. Senators John McCain, Joseph Lieberman and Lindsey Graham say the United States should provide direct assistance to the opposition, including weapons, intelligence and training.

In a joint opinion piece published late Sunday by The Washington Post, they say that the U.S. is jeopardizing its national security as well as its moral standing in the world by remaining on the sidelines.

The senators compared not aiding the rebels to the U.S. relationship with Kurds and Shi'ites in Iraq under Saddam Hussein and the Tutsis in Rwanda, saying inaction would haunt the nation “for years to come.”