Regarding the defection of a guy that the New York Times called a "minister"

"In Washington, senior American intelligence officials said that they had seen only modest defections from the Syrian Army and that not all defectors had joined the opposition. The officials also said they had seen no defections from the inner circle of Mr. Assad despite the escalating violence and the government’s international isolation. The United States and many other countries have called on him to resign.  The defections, the American intelligence officials said, were of midlevel technocrats and bureaucrats, including an assistant oil minister who defected this week. “He’s really not a key player in the regime,” one intelligence official said."