The U.N.-Arab League special envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, says further militarization in the country “will make the situation worse.”

Annan spoke Thursday in Cairo where he met with Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby. The former U.N. chief is due to visit Syria later this week.

Meanwhile, Syria's deputy oil minister resigned his post to join the opposition to President Bashar al-Assad, saying the government has inflicted a “year of sorrow and sadness” on the Syrian people.

In a video posted on YouTube, Abdo Husameddine urged his colleagues to abandon what he called a “sinking ship.”

He is the most senior official to leave the Syrian government since the opposition uprising began in March of last year. The head of the opposition Syrian National Council welcomed the defection and called for other officials to join the opposition.

In Damascus Thursday, U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos met with officials at the Ministry of Culture, and was expected to hold talks with humanitarian representatives.

She spoke briefly to reporters, describing her tour Wednesday in a former rebel stronghold in the city of Homs.

“I was devastated by what I saw in Baba Amr.”

A spokeswoman for Amos said Wednesday she found parts of the district “completely devastated.”

Amos and a Syrian Arab Red Crescent team spent 45 minutes in Baba Amr. The spokeswoman said they tried to access opposition-held areas of the town, but could not negotiate access with the opposition.

Amos met earlier Wednesday with Syria's foreign minister, who told her she is free to go anywhere in Syria.

The visit was the first by an independent observer since the Syrian military began its month-long assault on the rebellious neighborhood that was seized from rebel control last week.

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