DAMASCUS: Syria's deputy oil minister resigned on Thursday, becoming the most senior official to join the rebel ranks, as Washington revealed it is considering non-lethal aid to the insurgency.
The boost for the rebels came as UN-Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan appealed in Cairo to Syria's opposition to join his mission's efforts to resolve the conflict that has left thousands dead in the past year.
Abdo Hussameddin announced his resignation in a video posted by activists on YouTube, saying he was joining the revolt.
“I, the engineer Abdo Hussameddin, the deputy oil minister... announce my defection from the regime and my resignation,” he said in the video.
“I am joining the revolution of the people who reject injustice and the brutal campaign of the regime, which is seeking to crush the people's demand for freedom and dignity,” he added.
The defection was quickly welcomed by Syrian opposition leader Burhan Ghalioun, who told AFP he expects more government officials and politicians to do the same.
“I hail the deputy (oil) minister who defected and I call on all government members and public servants ... to abandon this regime and join the ranks of the revolution for freedom and dignity,” said Ghalioun, head of the Syrian National Council, the main opposition group.
“I expect for sure that there are other government officials and politicians who will follow suit,” he added.
Former UN chief Annan told reporters inCairohe had urged “the Syrian opposition to come together to work with us to find a solution that will respect the aspirations of the Syrian people.”Annan was in the Egyptian capital for talks with officials ahead of a trip toDamascuson Friday.
“We will do whatever we can to urge and press the cessation of hostilities and an end to the killing and violence,” he said ahead of talks with Foreign Minister Mohammed Amr.
“But of course the ultimate solution lies in the political settlement,”Annan said.
Late on Wednesday, US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta saidWashingtonwas looking at delivering non-lethal aid toSyria's rebels, hinting at the first directUSassistance to the forces seeking Assad's downfall.
While outraged at the killing of civilians inSyria, theUSgovernment is opposed to taking unilateral military action and favors pursuing diplomacy to force Assad to step down, Panetta told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“We are reviewing all possible additional steps that can be taken with our international partners to support efforts to protect the Syrian people, end the violence and ensure regional stability, including potential military options if necessary,” Panetta stressed.
Asked by Senator Richard Blumenthal if the United States was ready to deliver communications equipment to Syrian rebels, Panetta said: “I'd prefer to discuss that in a closed session but I can tell you that we're considering an array of non-lethal assistance.”According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, almost 8,500 people have died in the brutal government crackdown against a revolt that erupted last March.
On Wednesday, UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos briefly visited the battered neighbourhood of Baba Amr, in the protest city ofHoms, with a Syrian Red Crescent team.
However Amos was stopped from going into areas ofHomsstill held by the opposition, despite receiving assurances from Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem in earlier talks that she could go to any part of the country, her spokeswoman Amanda Pitt told AFP.
“She says that the parts they saw were completely devastated,” Pitt told AFP. “She saidHomsfeels like a city that has been completely closed down.
The Red Crescent and the International Committee of the Red Cross had been trying since last Friday to enter Baba Amr -- the target of a month-long bombardment to oust rebel fighters -- but the government repeatedly barred them from evacuating wounded civilians and delivering desperately needed supplies.
In his video comments, Hussameddin denouncedRussiaandChinafor backing the Syrian regime saying they were not “friends of the Syrian people but partners in the killing of the Syrian people”.
The 57-year-old, who is married and has four children, said he had worked for the Syrian government for 33 years and did not wish to end his life “serving a criminal regime”.
“That is why I have joined the right path knowing that this regime will burn down my house, hunt down my family and fabricate lies,” said Hussameddin, who was appointed deputy oil minister in August 2009.
He advised his colleagues to abandon “this sinking ship”.
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