A Syrian diplomat who defected and joined the opposition has been "relieved of his duties," authorities said Thursday, a day after he left his post and denounced the regime for killing civilians. Nawaf al-Fares, the Syrian ambassador to Iraq, is the second high-profile official to break with the regime in a week. A brigadier general, who was also the son of a former defense minister, defected last week to protest the killings. Al-Fares "made statements contrary to his job duty to defend the positions of the country and its issues, which requires legal accountability and discipline, " the Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement. The statement said he "no longer has anything to do" with the Syrian embassy in Baghdad or the ministry of foreign affairs. Al-Fares is the highest-ranking diplomat so far to leave the regime. He also announced his defection from the ruling Baath party, becoming the most senior member to leave. "To my brothers in the military, your military doctrine is to defend the homeland against external aggression and protect its borders," al-Fares said in a video statement given to the TV network Al Jazeera Arabic. It was unclear when the video was shot. "So did your fathers, sons and sisters become the enemies now? And are they the ones who you should fight? Is that what you have learned in your military schools?" Al-Fares said he was joining the revolution, and called the government "malicious" and "the killer of the people." He was still in Iraq on Wednesday and making his way to a "safe area," according to two members of the Syrian National Council, a main opposition group. It was unclear whether he will remain in the country. The conflict in Syria has raged for 16 months, defying international peace efforts and leaving world leaders scrambling to find a solution. Present Bashar al- Assad's bloody crackdown on the opposition has sparked international outrage, but he still enjoys the support of allies such as Russia, Iran and China. Russia and China -- which are permanent Security Council members -- have previously vetoed U.N. Security Council draft resolutions that would formally condemn the Syrian regime. Many other nations said such resolutions could have pushed al-Assad to stop the bloody crackdown on dissidents seeking his ouster. Kofi Annan, the former United Nations secretary-general who now serves as international envoy to Syria, briefed the U.N. Security Council on the crisis Wednesday. "The council is now discussing what the next step should be and what action they should take," Annan said. "We should hear something from them in the next few days." Opposition groups say more than 15,000 people have died since the violence began, while the United Nations has put the death toll at more than 10,000.