Syria’s Deputy Oil Minister Announces Defection To Rebels Via YouTube
Please note that we are not authorised to provide any investment advice. The content on this page is for information purposes only.
The Deputy Oil Minister of Syria, Abdo Hussameldin, has resigned from his government post to join the rebel movement against President Bashar al-Assad, reported Reuters on Thursday, after Hussameldin posted a video on YouTube to announce his defection.
Hussameldin, who was appointed to his role by Assad in 2009, looked relaxed as he spoke directly into a camera, while wearing a suit and a tie.
The Deputy Oil Minister of Syria, Abdo Hussameldin, has resigned from his government post to join the rebel movement against President Bashar al-Assad, reported Reuters on Thursday, after Hussameldin posted a video on YouTube to announce his defection.
Hussameldin, who was appointed to his role by Assad in 2009, looked relaxed as he spoke directly into a camera, while wearing a suit and a tie.
“I Abdo Hussameldin, deputy oil and mineral wealth minister in Syria, announce my defection from the regime, resignation from my position and withdrawal from the Baath Party,” said Hussameldin, as he sat on a grey chair against a yellow background.
“I am joining the revolution of the people who reject injustice and the brutal campaign of the regime,” he added.
According to Al Jazeera News, an activist named Rami, helped to shoot the video and post it on Youtube, telling the AFP news agency in Beirut that the rebels had arranged for Hussameldin’s resignation. Rami also asked that the location of the video shoot be not disclosed for safety reasons.
Apart from announcing his resignation, the former Deputy Oil Minster also took the time to criticise Assad’s regime, as well as certain countries that continue to back Assad.
Mentioning Russia and China in particular, Hussameldin said that they were not “”friends of the Syrian people but partners in the killing of the Syrian people”.
[quote]”I have been in government for 33 years. I did not want to end my career serving the crimes of this regime. I have preferred to do what is right although I know that this regime will burn my house and persecute my family,” he said.[/quote]“I tell the regime, which claims to own the country, you have nothing but the footprint of the tank driven by your barbarism to kill innocent people.”
Hussameldin is the highest-ranking civilian official to abandon President Bashar al-Assad’s regime since the uprising began nearly a year ago. Public defections remain rare among the civilian branches of the state, as the fear of retribution from Assad’s secret police continue to weigh on potential defectors’ minds.
Related: The Shifting Sands of Power In The Middle East: George Friedman
Related: Sorry Dr Friedman, You Are Wrong – the Middle East Has Fundamentally Changed
Related: Premature Speculation: The Arab Spring Cannot Be Considered as Democracy’s Fourth Wave. Yet.
But Hussameldin has advised his colleagues to abandon this “sinking ship”, particularly with the first signs of US interventions on the horizon.
Just hours before Hussameldin’s announcement, US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said that Washington was looking at delivering non-lethal aid to Syrian rebels, while military action would be considered if a clear legal basis could be found.
Senator John McCain, who is on the Senated Armed Services Committee, also said that the US should not forget its moral duty to the Syrian people – especially when military action clearly becomes necessary.
“In my view it would require air power,” said McCain to the BBC. “It would require a coalition, not the United States going it alone. But, if we don’t do this, when we can prevent a massacre from taking place, I think the United States will have abrogated its responsibilities.”
Watch Abdo Hussameldin’s Annoucement (In Arabic):
