Syrian defector: 'This regime will only go with force'

• Nawaf al-Fares, former Syrian ambassador to Iraq, is the highest-ranking diplomatic defector
• The "totalitarian" regime is led entirely by Bashar al-Assad, al-Fares says
• "They are aware that they are going to pay for it," al-Fares says of the regime's violence
• Syria denies accusations of massacres and attacking civilians

Doha, Qatar (CNN) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his supporters are "just buying time," and potentially hoping for a chance to escape, the country's highest ranking diplomatic defector told CNN Sunday.

Nawaf al-Fares, the former Syrian ambassador to Iraq, said Syria is "a totalitarian regime and a dictatorship" in which all the orders come from al-Assad. "The rest of the regime personnel are people who only obey," he said in Doha, Qatar, in his first interview with a U.S.-based TV network since his defection.

Explaining his decision to break with the regime, al-Fares cited the killings -- the "massacres" -- that have led to tens of thousands of refugees. He described a "declaration of war by Bashar al-Assad against the Syrian people."

It all "stopped any kind of hope towards reform or real change," which al-Assad had promised, al-Fares said.

Now, "of course the regime will try and destroy my reputation. This is a well known tactic. I may be the defection that hurts the regime the most."

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Asked whether al-Assad and his supporters believe they may ultimately win, al-Fares replied: "They are trapped. They committed crimes. And they entered into a war of blood. And they are aware that they are going to pay for it. They are just buying time. Maybe they will get a chance to escape."

But the regime "will not go without force," he added.

The Syrian people's suffering "is very great," and "they want it to end by any way possible. I support military intervention because I know the nature of this regime. This regime will only go with force."

Al-Fares called on his former colleagues "to join the people, and leave this corrupt regime. And there is still time for that.

"To Bashar al-Assad, I say: You don't know history. Two wills cannot be defeated: the will of God and the will of the people. So learn from history. "

He called on al-Assad to "have mercy on the poor people of Syria."

And, al-Fares added, "history will curse you for the crimes you committed in Syria."

The Syrian regime has repeatedly denied carrying out massacres or attacking unarmed civilians. The government blames violence in the country on "armed terrorist groups," despite widespread international condemnation.

Al-Assad says he and the Syrian government are working to bring reforms to the government.

After al-Fares defected last week, Syria said he had been "relieved of his duties."

He was the second high-profile Sunni official to break with the regime within a week. Manaf Tlas, a Republican Guard brigadier general and the son of a former defense minister, defected to protest the killing of civilians by government forces.