High-Ranking Syrian General Defects To Opposition
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The Syrian Army's morale could be low after fighting for three years (Creative Commons/Beshroffline)
Syrian army Maj. Gen. Mohammed Ezz al-Din Khalouf defected to the rebel group opposing the goverment of President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday.
Khalouf, who was able to leave Syria for Jordan with the assistance of the rebels, told the media that the morale among the remaining members of the Syrian military was low, according to the Macon Telegraph.
"It is not possible for anyone to accept any of the ideas of this regime unless they have achieved special interests," he told Al Arabiya.
The Syrian civil war is entering its third year and over 70,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the conflict. Some 4 million are believed to have been displaced.
From the Huffington Post:
"But a study by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) published this week estimated that Assad's forces, thought to be more than 300,000-strong at the start of the uprising two years ago, were now at a much lower effective strength and were likely to diminish further.The IISS said that perhaps 50,000 of the Syrian army's elite troops could be depended on for loyalty. Most of them were likely to be from Assad's minority Alawite sect, which has dominated the country for more than four decades.Many deserters report that their units were held inside bases to prevent their escape."
The AP is also reporting that 20 other soliders defected on Saturday in a seperate incident.
