UPDATE: May 30, 1:13 P.M.: Hazem Chehabi, longtime Syrian honorary consul general, is the first diplomat to defect from President Bashar Al-Assad's government, according to the Syrian American Council. The national pro-revolutionary group lauded Chehabi's resignation from his 18-year-long post as consul general on the west coast.
Chehabi's move came in the wake of U.S. government recalls of top-level Syrian officials after a massacre in Houla, which sparked international outrage. Chehabi told NPR that he wasn't concerned with how the government would receive his resignation, and that he's worried about his country.
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ORIGINAL POST, MAY 30, 10:14 A.M.: Hazem Chehabi, Syria's longtime honorary consul general, and the target of a student movement calling for his dismissal from the UC Irvine Foundation Board, resigned from his government post yesterday. That move came just as the United States government ousted top Syrian envoys Tuesday, a move prompted by a massacre in the Syrian city of Houla, which killed more than 100 civilians.
Chehabi decided to finally submit his resignation, telling NPR he could no longer remain silent in the face of a “painful” situation in his country of origin.
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