By IANS/AKI,
Dubai : Syria’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) defected Wednesday, a day after his wife, the Syrian envoy to Cyprus, announced she was joining the rebels.
Abdel Latif al-Dabbagh’s wife Lamia al-Hariri was the Syrian ambassador to Cyprus.
She announced Tuesday she was defecting and joining the rebels locked in a 16-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
Brigadier-General Manaf Tlas, the highest-ranked defector till date from the Syrian regime, in a message aired late Tuesday urged Syrians to unite and look towards a free and democratic post-revolutionary Syria.
Tlas’s broadcast was aired by Arabic satellite TV channel Al-Arabiya, reportedly from Paris. It was his first public appearance since he fled Syria earlier this month.