Report: Syrian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Makdissi Present in Lebanon
Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi is currently residing in Lebanon, OTV channel reported on Saturday, after media speculations over his whereabouts.
According to the channel the Syrian official hasn't formally defected the Syrian regime.
OTV reported that there is no restriction on Makdissi's movement in Beirut.
On December 3, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the spokesman had been "pressured by people inside the presidential palace, but not the president himself, to resign" and had traveled to London with his family.
However, in the first reaction from Damascus regarding the information that surfaced about a possible defection by the longtime loyalist to President Bashar Assad, Syrian pro-government daily al-Watan said on December 11 that Makdissi has taken sanctioned leave for three months.
A native Arabic speaker and fluent in French and English, Makdissi conducted his thesis in London while working for the Syrian embassy.
The Christian native of Damascus was called back to the Syrian capital soon after an uprising against Assad broke out in March last year to assume the post of foreign ministry spokesman.
He later relocated his wife and two children to Beirut, where he would visit them on the weekends.
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