Colonel defects to anti-Assad movement

A SYRIAN colonel who has joined the revolt against president Bashar al-Assad has taken refuge in Turkey in a move that may ratchet up tensions between Damascus and Ankara.

Colonel Riad al-Asaad told Turkey’s state-run Anatolian news agency he had been the target of a Syrian military crackdown in the Rastan region near the city of Homs, but had escaped.

“We live in a safe place in Turkey,” he said yesterday, thanking the Turkish government for giving him refuge. Anatolian’s report was datelined Hatay in southern Turkey, where 7,000 Syrians have fled to escape Assad’s crackdown on protesters.

Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan, who has predicted the Syrian people will “sooner or later” overthrow Mr Assad, his former ally, said he would unveil plans for sanctions against Syria after he visits Syrian refugees in Hatay in the coming days.

Turkey also announced a nine-day military exercise in Hatay – a territory long claimed by Syria – starting today.

Col Asaad is the most senior Syrian officer to defect to the opposition since the popular revolt erupted in March.

After months of peaceful protests, some army deserters and dissidents have taken up arms, prompting military operations against them, especially in areas bordering Turkey and Jordan.

“These are rugged or agricultural regions. The regime cannot control them unless it commits more troops, and then it risks more defections,” said one activist in the north-western province of Idlib near Turkey.

Col Asaad, the military defector who leads the “Syrian Free Army”, said last week that 10,000 troops had deserted.

The authorities have denied any army defections, saying its military operations were a response to appeals by residents.