Syrian ambassador to Minsk flees to West

The website charter97.org learned the news from a source in ruling circles.

Syria's ambassador to Iraq, Nawaf al-Fares is reported by media to have joined the opposition. The diplomat did it in protest against suppression of the opposition by the Syrian authorities. A week ago, Syrian General Manaf Tlass, a son of a former defence minister, fled from Syria to Paris.

As charter97.org learned from a source, Syrian ambassador to Minsk Farouk Taha, who has been working in Belarus since 2007, fled to a European country. Media reported his term in office expired. According to a source,  Farouk Taha did not return to Damask. He is said to have run away from Minsk to a European country, supposedly Switzerland, in spring, but this information was kept in secret. The Belarusian and Syrian authorities apparently decided not to advertise the escape of the diplomat.