Azerbaijan, Baku, July 12 /Trend A.Taghiyeva/
The Syrian Ambassador to Iraq, Nawaf al-Faris has officially announced his defection to the opposition, Al-Jazeera channel said on Thursday.
In a video, confirming his position, Al-Faris urged the army to oppose the regime of Syrian President Assad.
Earlier, the Syrian newspaper An-Nashr spread rumours that Al-Faris was kidnapped by members of the armed opposition, which announced his defection to the side of the opposition.
General of the Syrian Republican Guard and son of former Syrian Defence Minister Manaf Tlass fled to France last week.
Each day an increasing number of Syrian army officers are moving to the side of the opposition, refusing to participate in a military conflict and in the shelling of towns and villages.
A week ago, the Syrian army general who commanded the engineer battalion, moved to the opposition and fled to Turkey.
Anti-government protests have continued in Syria for more than a year.
They turned into an armed struggle between the opposition and units of the power structures of the country.
Reports about new armed incidents and victims appear on a regular basis, despite the country having declared a truce since mid-April according to UN-Arab League special envoy to Syria Kofi Annan's plan.
According to UN, the total number of victims of the conflict in Syria has exceeded 12,000 people. About 230,000 people became refugees.