BEIRUT: Syria’s ambassador to Iraq defected Wednesday in protest over President Bashar Assad’s military crackdown on a 16-month uprising, as diplomats prepared for a new showdown at the U.N. Security Council over how to weave a political solution to the crisis. Nawaf al-Fares, who has close ties to Syrian security, would be the first senior diplomat to quit the government.
 
There has been no comment from Damascus or Baghdad and the White House said it was unable to confirm the defection, news of which broke just before mediator Kofi Annan briefed the U.N. Security Council.
 
The move also came as pressure piled on the ground in Syria, with fighting entering the capital Damascus and at least 52 people reported killed in violence around Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K. based opposition monitoring group, said.
 
Rebels and troops clashed in the district of Qadam Wednesday and hundreds of youths gathered late Tuesday in the capital’s upmarket district of Mazzeh and chanted anti-regime slogans, it said.
 
Troops, meanwhile continued to pound rebel-held areas of the central province of Homs, the Observatory said, noting that shelling was especially violent in the besieged areas of Jurat al-Shiah and Qarabees.
 
The Observatory also reported violent shelling in the rebel-held town of Rastan, also in Homs, causing widespread destruction.
 
A veteran of Assad’s rule who held senior positions under the late president Hafez Assad, Fares, a Sunni, is from Deir al-Zor, the eastern city on the road to Iraq which has been the scene of a ferocious military onslaught by Assad forces.
 
“This is just the beginning of a series of defections on the diplomatic level. We are in touch with several ambassadors,” said Mohammad Sermini, a member of the main opposition umbrella group, the Syrian National Council.
 
Fares’ decision to jump ship follows the high-profile flight from Syria Friday of Brigadier General Manaf Tlas.
 
Tlas fled to Paris and has not spoken since of his intentions.
 
Opposition sources said Fares was leaving Iraq, but it was not clear where he would go.
 
The apparent crack in Assad’s diplomatic ranks came as diplomats geared up for a new battle at the U.N. Security Council between Western powers and veto-wielding Russia.
 
Annan, appointed by the U.N. and the Arab League to mediate in the crisis, briefed the Security Council by video-link from Geneva on the results of this week’s diplomatic shuttle to Damascus, Tehran and Baghdad – three capitals forming a Shiite Muslim axis of power in the Middle East.
 
Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Annan said he expected the Security Council to decide the next steps on Syria in coming days and that Assad had identified his nominee to represent the government in potential future talks with the opposition.
 
“He did offer a name and I indicated that I wanted to know a bit more about the individual, so we are at that stage,” Annan said.
 
The 15-member Security Council must decide what to do with the U.N. mission in Syria, known as UNSMIS, before July 20 when its mandate expires. It is due to vote on July 18.
 
In April, it authorized deployment of up to 300 unarmed military observers to Syria to oversee a ceasefire, part of a six-point peace plan proposed by Annan. But the truce was never honored and the monitors are now confined to hotels.
 
Russia circulated to Security Council members Tuesday a draft resolution proposing to extend the mission for three months so it can shift focus from monitoring the nonexistent truce to securing a political solution.
 
But Britain and France were poised to counter Moscow with their own draft which diplomats said would likely cite Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which would allow the Council to authorize actions ranging from diplomatic and economic sanctions to military intervention.
 
According to the draft resolution, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, Western nations want to set a 10-day deadline for Assad to halt use of heavy weapons or face sanctions.
 
Annan said Wednesday both Iran and Iraq supported a plan for a Syrian-led political transition in Damascus – buttressing his argument that Tehran should be involved in efforts to find a peaceful solution to the crisis despite the West’s firm rejection of any Iranian role.
 
“Obviously, they will use their influence on the government and the parties in moving in that direction,” he said.
 
Russia, which along with China has backed Annan’s calls for Iran to be included in the process, said not to do so would be shortsighted.
 
“Iran has a role to play, it is playing a role, and ignoring Iran or just dismissing Iran on a political basis is not very wise,” Russia’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador Alexander Pankin said.
 
U.S. officials said there was still no sign that Tehran was ready to act constructively. “Iran is definitely part of the problem in Syria, it is supporting, aiding and abetting the Assad regime materially and in many other ways and it has shown no readiness to contribute constructively,” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice told reporters.
 
U.N. Security Council veto-holders China and Russia have for the past year blocked efforts by Washington and its European and Arab allies to turn the screws on Assad.
 
Opposition leaders say there can be no peaceful transition unless Assad, who crushed popular protests from the moment they began, relinquishes power first. Assad, whose family has ruled Syria for 42 years, says he still has the backing of his people.
 
In Moscow, Syrian opposition talks with Russia ended in discord Wednesday. An opposition leader accused Moscow of pursuing policies that were helping to prolong bloodshed in Syria.“The Syrian people don’t understand Russia’s position. How can Russia keep supplying arms? How can they keep vetoing resolutions? There needs to be an end to mass killings,” said Burhan Ghalioun of the Syrian National Council.
 
His comments followed news from Russian sources that a Russian warship had left for Syria Tuesday and another military source said four more were on their way there but that it had nothing to do with the conflict.
 
The sources said the vessels were carrying provisions to a small maintenance and repair facility that Russia maintains in the Syrian port of Tartous, the only naval base it has outside of the former Soviet Union.
 
Despite the apparently defiant Russian stance, one member of Syria’s opposition said a broader shift may be starting in Moscow, which has stepped up its diplomacy in recent weeks amid hints it may be moderating its support for Assad as turmoil engulfs its longtime ally.
 
“We’re trying to work out what exactly Russia is trying to do here. I think they’re looking for a genuine solution,” said a member of the SNC delegation which held talks in Moscow, asking not to be identified.
 
Assad’s opponents say just under 13,000 armed and unarmed opponents of the Syrian president have been killed since March 2011.
 
Meanwhile, Syria’s army fired live missiles Wednesday in an exercise aimed at showcasing its ability to “destroy any enemy target,” state media reported. The tests concluded five days of war games, which analysts say are a warning to Assad’s foes.