The defection brought to 13 the number of generals seeking refuge in Turkey since the revolt against Syrian
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad's
Light of the Alawites...
regime erupted 16 months ago.
In addition to the general, two colonels and some 30 soldiers flanked by their families crossed into Turkey late on Sunday, said Anatolia.
The defectors were taken to Apaydin camp in Hatay province, some four kilometers from the border with Syria.
The refugee camps in the southeastern provinces of Hatay, Gaziantep, Sanliurfa and Kilis shelter more than 33,000 Syrians, a number that surged after a recent escalation of violence in Syria, particularly in northwestern towns near the Turkish border.
Turkey, once a close ally of Syria, summoned an emergency NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
meeting for Tuesday after accusing Damascus
...The
City of Jasminis the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
of shooting down one of its military planes in international airspace.