Senior Syrian Defector Calls Assad a Criminal

The first ambassador to abandon Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has called on the army to - quote - "turn their guns on the criminals" of the government, as troops backed by tanks swarmed into a suburb of Damascus on Thursday to flush out rebels.            

Nawaf al-Fares, who has close ties to the security services, was Syria's ambassador to its neighbour Iraq, one of its few friends in the region.             

Coming just days after the desertion of Manaf Tlas, a brigadier general in the elite Republican Guard who grew up with the president, al-Fares' defection gives the anti-Assad uprising one of its biggest boosts in 16 months of bloodshed.             

Al-Fares spoke in detail to Arabic news channel Al Jazeera in Qatar.

Nawaf al-Fares, Defected Syrian Ambassador to Iraq
"I have been with the revolution since the very first day, but due to personal reasons -- due to political reasons and because of my duty, very few people were aware of this. These people can hear me say this now, I have been with the revolution since day one and historically, I have always been part of the opposition movement in the country."

Al-Fares states clearly that Assad's promise of reform has not taken place.             

Nawaf al-Fares, Defected Syrian Ambassador to Iraq
“The regime had promised us many reforms and we waited a long time, but it was all empty promises -- no reform and no steps towards reform, but more killing, destruction and alienation of everything Syrian, its people, land, geography, history -- everything."             

Al-Fares argues that Assad can no longer be considered a president, but rather a criminal.

Nawaf al-Fares, Defected Syrian Ambassador to Iraq
"I had hope and I was in direct contact with President Bashar al-Assad, Syria's former president, not now because now he is a criminal killing the Syrian people."

Al-Fares says he hopes to play a role in toppling Assad from power.             

Nawaf al-Fares, Defected Syrian Ambassador to Iraq
"I would like to play a big role in moving the revolution forward, God willing. As for the opposition outside Syria, it is too early to address this now... What the Syrian people are facing now is not like anything anyone else has confronted -- destruction and systematic killing happening in front of the whole world and the world stands paralysed in front of this."                  

On Wednesday Britain circulated a draft, backed by the United States, France and Germany, that  would allow the UN Security council to authorise actions ranging from diplomatic and economic sanctions, to military intervention.    

However Russia, Syria's strongest ally, on Thursday made it clear they would veto any such resolution.