Colonel Yarab al-Shara, a cousin of Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Shara and a senior official in the Syrian defense system, announced on Thursday that he has defected from President Bashar Assad’s regime.

The Al-Arabiya network broadcast a message in which al-Shara said he is leaving the regime. He said the Assad regime is a “murdering regime” and added that Assad uses a method of random bombings and the expulsion of innocent civilians.