Syrian Defense Minister DID Defect to Turkey

[SleeplessinSoCal]

The old thread locked and can't find another, so here goes:

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/04/20329225-report-former-syria-defense-minister-defects-to-turkey?lite

"By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Amena Bakr, Reuters

Former Syrian Defense Minister Gen. Ali Habib, a prominent member of President Bashar Assad's Alawite sect, has defected and is now in Turkey, a senior member of the opposition Syrian National Coalition told Reuters on Wednesday.

"Ali Habib has managed to escape from the grip of the regime and he is now in Turkey, but this does not mean that he has joined the opposition. I was told this by a Western diplomatic official," Kamal al-Labwani said from Paris.

If his defection is confirmed, Habib would be the highest ranking Alawite figure to break with Assad since the uprising against his rule began in 2011. "

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/04/us-syria-crisis-defection-idUSBRE9830O420130904

"Exclusive: Former Syria defense minister defects in break with Assad

Syrian state television denied Habib had left Syria and said he was still at his home. Turkey's foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said he could not at the moment confirm Habib had defected.

A Gulf source told Reuters that Habib had defected on Tuesday evening, arriving at the Turkish frontier before midnight with two or three other people. He was then taken across the border in a convoy of vehicles.

His companions were fellow military officers who supported his defection, the source said. They were believed to have also left Syria but there was no immediate confirmation of that.

Labwani said Habib was smuggled out of Syria with the help of a Western country."

[Thinkingabout]

1. Inside defections would be a good to start the removal of Assad, just hope they have a

Good person to step in and take over. I had heard some of their military had begun to defect.