More Syria defections expected - FT.com Two more Syrian ambassadors are preparing to defect, an opposition source said, after the country's envoy to Iraq on Wednesday became the first significant diplomatic defection in the country's 16-month crisis. In a video statement posted to Facebook early on Thursday morning, the ambassador to Iraq, Nawaf al-Fares, announced he had joined the revolution against the regime of president Bashar al-Assad. I ask ... the members of the military to join the revolution and to defend the country and the citizens. Turn your guns toward the criminals from this regime," he said in the video. Mr Fares defected in Irbil, in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, according to an opposition source who has been in contact with him. On Thursday, Iraq's foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, said Mr Fares is now in Qatar. The Syrian foreign ministry released a statement saying Mr Fares "has been relieved of his duties and he no longer has any link to our embassy in Baghdad or the foreign ministry." The defection came days after the reported desertion of Manaf Tlass, the Republican Guard commander. Mr Fares is said to have been close to the Tlass family and his position became untenable after the defection of Brigadier General Tlass. With a military background - his first diplomatic posting was Iraq - Mr Fares also comes from a tribe in the eastern province of Deir Ezzour that has both Syrian and Iraqi branches and has been supportive of the revolution.