Syrian minister Abdo Hussameddin: I announce my defection from the Assad regime

A Syrian army general and his son, a captain, reportedly defect to the opposition.

After we all thought Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had gone permanently deeper underground as his country's conflict became personal and deadly for him, he has emerged into the August daylight. Assad has come out to pray on the first day of Eid il Fitr, seen publicly in his local mosque.

Clashes and shelling were reported Tuesday by the Syrian opposition in Aleppo in the region of Idlib (northwest), in the province of Daraa (south) and in some suburbs of Damascus.