Syria Downplays String of Envoy Defections

Syria's regime confirmed on Thursday the defection of three diplomats, but downplayed its importance and indirectly accused Qatar of encouraging "national division."

The foreign ministry confirmed the defections of Lamia Hariri, charge d'affaires in Cyprus, her husband Abdel Latif al-Dabbagh, ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, and Mohammed Tahsin al-Fakir, security attache in Oman.

"These ministry employees chose to abandon their diplomatic posts and go to a certain Arab capital, which is funding and encouraging these type of staff defections," the ministry said, referring to Qatar, where the diplomats have reportedly fled.

The ministry said Hariri was "merely a diplomat at the embassy in Cyprus, temporarily charged with a caretaker role pending the appointment of a charge d'affaires or ambassador."

It added that her husband, the Syrian ambassador to UAE was "no longer at his post as of June 4."

Fakir, the ministry said, "had no diplomatic or security function and was simply an administrative employee whose mission had expired in May and who was scheduled to retire."

Qatar-based news station Al-Jazeera reported on Tuesday that Hariri had arrived in Qatar after the announcement of her defection.

Later on Wednesday, Fakir announced his defection on al-Jazeera, saying he was prompted by the increased "killing, destruction and shelling of neighborhoods across Syria" by a "corrupt regime."

The ministry said it had taken "legal and disciplinary action" against the defectors and that its embassies were "working on a regular basis without any interruption to serve Syrian nationals in the relevant countries."

The White House on Wednesday called the defections evidence that President Bashar Assad's days are "numbered."

Spokesman Jay Carney said they showed that "senior officials around the Assad inner circle are fleeing the government because of the heinous actions taken by Assad against his own people, and the recognition that Assad's days are numbered."

The string of defections come after Nawaf Fares, Syria's ambassador to Iraq, left for Qatar earlier this month after publicly renouncing his post.