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REPORT: Syrian Military Police Chief Defects To Join Rebels

By Sy Mukherjee on Dec 26, 2012 at 1:09 pm

The New York Times is reporting that Maj. Gen. Abdul Aziz Jassem al-Shallal — the head of Syria’s military police — has defected from the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

“I, General Abdel Aziz Jassem al-Shallal, commander of Syrian military police, announce that I am defecting from the regime army, to join the people’s revolution,” he said in a publicly broadcast video recording. Shallal attributed his defection to his view that the Syrian military had abdicated its duty to protect the Syrian people and devolved into “gangs of killing and destruction.” There are also reports that the former general has taken shelter in Turkey, joining other military defectors who have sided with opposition forces.

Shallal is the highest-ranking military official to defect from the regime, joining a long line of military and civilian leaders — including the country’s prime minister — to break ties with Assad. In his statement, Shallal also asserted that, “there are other high-ranking officers who want to defect, but the situation is not suitable for them to declare defection.”

To date, thousands have died in the Assad regime’s crackdown and more than 500,000 Syrians have fled to neighboring countries. U.S. and other Western officials have repeatedly called on Assad to step down, and warned the embattled president against using chemical weapons against his people.

NEWS FLASH

Bashar Al-Assad Reportedly Seeking Asylum Option In Latin America | Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is reportedly laying plans to seek asylum in Latin America in case he and his family are forced to flee the country. Over the past week, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Miqdad held meetings in Venezuela, Cuba and Ecuador, where he gave leaders personal letters from the embattled Syrian leader. The Syrian regime is considered by many to be on its last legs, as rebel forces continue to advance towards Damascus and concerns increase that Assad may use chemical weapons in a desperate attempt to keep power.

– Greg Noth

Update

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said he would not support a deal allowing Assad to go into exile, telling the Associated Press, “Whoever commits [a] gross violation of human rights must be held accountable and should be brought to justice. This is a fundamental principle.”

By Guest Blogger on Dec 5, 2012 at 12:30 pm

NEWS FLASH

Report: Top Syrian Official Defects | Reuters reports that Jihad Makdissi, the well-known spokesman of Syria’s Foreign Ministry, has left the country and defected from the regime of Bashar Al-Assad. A “diplomatic source” told the news organization that “he is out of Syria.” Makdissi led the regime’s PR war during the course of the revolution, responding to allegations of civilian massacres with lines like “what happened wasn’t an attack on civilians.” If reports are accurate, Makdissi joins a long line of other high-ranking former Syrian officials to leave the regime.

By Hamed Aleaziz on Dec 3, 2012 at 12:43 pm

NEWS FLASH

AP: U.S. Set To Recognize Syrian Opposition Group | The U.S. will announce its support and recognition of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, an opposition group created earlier this month, “as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people” on December 12th in Morocco. Robert Ford, the U.S. ambassador to Syria, said today, “They are a legitimate representative of the Syrian people’s aspirations. And we will work with them. We will cooperate with them. They have a vision of Syria.” In addition to recognizing the group, the U.S. will, according to the AP, provide “pledges of additional humanitarian and nonlethal logistical support.”

By Hamed Aleaziz on Nov 29, 2012 at 1:07 pm

Security

Top Syrian Defector Calls For Military Intervention: ‘This Regime Will Not Go Without Force’

By Ali Gharib on Jul 16, 2012 at 9:45 am

In an interview with CNN, one of the top officials that recently defected from embattled president Bashar al-Assad’s regime said he favors a military intervention to dislodge the government there. The Syrian ambassador to Iraq, Nawaf al Fares defected last week and, since, appeared in the press to denounce his Assad’s 17-month crackdown against anti-government demonstrators — a conflict the Red Cross declared a full-blown civil war.

On CNN, Fares said Assad held sole power to make decions in a “totalitarian regime and a dictatorship.” He served the Assad family for 34 years but turned against them when his hopes for reform were dashed by “what happened in the last year during the holy revolution, all of the killing, the massacres, the refugees, and the declaration of war by Bashar al Assad against the Syrian people.”

Asked by CNN if he favored foreign military intervention, Fares said only force could topple Assad:

CNN: Do you want a military intervention in Syria by foreign powers?

FARES: This regime will not go without force. the suffering of the Syrian people 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.

Watch the interview here:

His call came after reports last week of another massacre (some of the details have been called into question). Another army defector called for NATO airstrikes to assassinate Assad, but NATO seems to still be deferring to U.N. processes that are largely blocked by Syria’s ally Russia.

While the exiled representatives of the political opposition have been unable to unite, defections bolster their cause. In addition to Fares, a top general and Assad confidant defected two weeks ago, but failed to surface. Other generals, however, have joined the rebel leadership in Turkey, and, according to reports, “virtually none” of the 80,000 conscripts due to join the army this year reported for duty.

While Assad’s minority Allawite sect rules Syria, the military depends on the Sunni majority to fill its ranks. But many Sunnis are joining the opposition. Its strength was on display today with increased fighting in the once quiet capital, Damascus.

NEWS FLASH

Russia Wants To ‘Force’ A ‘Peaceful Political Solution’ In Syria | Despite reports that Russian naval forces will visit their port in Syria, signs point to growing Russian discontent with the civil war there. Once a staunch backer of Syria’s sovereignty, on Monday President Vladimir Putin told reporters, “We must do as much as possible to force the conflicting sides to reach a peaceful political solution to all contentious questions.” Representatives of the Syrian National Council, the main opposition umbrella group, met yesterday with the foreign ministry in Moscow and a Russian official Monday vowed to suspend new arms sales to President Bashar Al Assad’s government.

By Ali Gharib on Jul 10, 2012 at 10:15 am

NEWS FLASH

Syrian Regime Weakened By Defections | After the bloodiest month yet of the Syrian civili war, the opposition may be divided, but so, too, is the regime. The New York Times confirmed reports that Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlass — a Sunni confidant of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad — defected and notes that “at least one deputy minister and 15 generals, all of them Sunnis, have defected to Turkey, 5 in the past few weeks alone.” Attrition appears in lower ranks as well, with “virtually none,” according to experts, of the 80,000 conscripts expected to serve this year in the Syrian military reporting for duty.

By Ali Gharib on Jul 7, 2012 at 11:33 am

NEWS FLASH

Poll: Syria Neighbors Say Assad Should Go, No Consensus On How | According to the latest poll from the Pew Global Attitudes Project, Syria’s Middle East neighbors think Bashar al-Assad should vacate his office after a brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters but they’re not sure about what pressure to put on Syria to get there. Here’s a chart from Pew showing that, of the five countries polled, only Tunisians favor an Arab military intervention and no country’s respondents favored a Western military solution to the conflict:

(HT: Abu Hatem)

By Ali Gharib on Jun 21, 2012 at 1:40 pm

NEWS FLASH

C.I.A. Helping Arm Syrian Rebels | With agents on the ground in southern Turkey, the C.I.A. provides assistance to U.S. allies in the Middle East to funnel weapons to Syrian rebels fighting against dictator Bashar al-Assad’s forces, according to the New York Times. The account lines up with a spate of piecemeal media accounts on U.S. aid to the rebels. The C.I.A. agents help Turkey, with funds from Qatar and Saudi Arabia and through groups including the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, to select which of the 100 or so rebel groups should receive weapons in an effort to keep arms out of the hands of the alleged extremists said to also fight against the Syrian regime.

By Ali Gharib on Jun 21, 2012 at 9:00 am

NEWS FLASH

Russian Weapons Shipment To Syria Stopped Off The Coast Of Scotland | Britain’s Foreign Office said a Russian ship carrying weapons and military helicopters to Syria has been stopped off the coast of Scotland after the ship’s insurers cancelled the vessels coverage. “We were made aware of the allegations that the Alaed was carrying munitions destined for Syria,” Standard Club, the ship’s insurer, said in a statement. “We have already informed the ship owner that their insurance cover ceased automatically in view of the nature of the voyage.” The movement of the shipment has been closely monitored since Secretary of State Hillary warned last week that such shipments were adding to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s arsenal.

By Eli Clifton on Jun 19, 2012 at 9:10 am

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