The defection of Syria’s ambassador to Iraq, Nawaf al-Fares, comes as President Bashar al-Assad faces the threat of new international sanctions at the United Nations. On Thursday, the United States and three Security Council allies submitted a new proposal that would give Assad a 10-day deadline to implement an international ceasefire plan or face new sanctions. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said the sanctions would shore up the work of international monitors inside Syria.

Susan Rice: “The fact is that UNSMIS, regrettably, is not at present able to do the job that this council mandated it to do, because of the regime’s persistent refusal to take the basic steps to halt the violence. Without this council taking concrete measures to increase the pressure for the Annan and Geneva plans to be implemented by the government, it’s not plausible to assume that UNSMIS will be any more able to fulfill its mandate in the future than it is now.”