Syria’s oil minister, Abdo Hussameldin, defected yesterday via YouTube video, and officially joined the opposition.
In a roughly four-minute video uploaded onto YouTube, Hussameldin said he also withdrew from the Ba’ath Party, which has ruled Syria since the 1960’s. Hussameldin resigned from all his positions, he says, in order to “join the revolution of this dignified people,” according to a translation by Reuters.
Reuters quoted him as saying:
“I say to this regime: you have inflicted on those who you claim are your people a whole year of sorrow and sadness, denying them basic life and humanity and driving Syria to the edge of the abyss.”
The Syrian people have been calling for President Bashar al-Assad’s resignation since last spring, and have faced violent opposition, in some cases bombings, because of it.
The Washington Post listed Hussameldin as the fourth, and highest level, government official to join the revolution.