Syrian diplomat resigns over Houla massacre
Hazem Chehabi was one of Syria’s highest-ranking officials in the US
NEWPORT BEACH, California (AP) — Syria’s honorary consul general in California says he has defected from the regime of President Bashar Assad in protest of the killings last week in the town of Houla.
Hazem Chehabi told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday that he had resigned his post to protest the Friday attack that left more than 100 Syrians dead, most of them women and children.
Chehabi was one of Syria’s highest-ranking diplomats in the United States and is the first to defect from Assad.
Chehabi, a US citizen, is chairman of the University of California at Irvine board of trustees and had been the subject of student protests urging his removal.
He did not immediately return calls seeking comment from the AP.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
