Syria's first astronaut defects to Turkey: Report

[bananas]

Source: Agence France Presse

General Muhammed Ahmed Faris, a military aviator who became the first Syrian in space, fled to Turkey on Sunday after defecting from President Bashar al-Assad's regime, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Before crossing into Turkey, Faris visited the headquarters of the Free Syrian Army in his home town Aleppo in a show of solidarity with rebel forces battling Assad's troops in Syria's biggest city, it said. Anatolia said it was Gen Faris' fourth attempt to defect.

gen Faris was born in 1951 in Aleppo, where the Syrian army was pounding rebel positions on Sunday ahead of a threatened ground assault on the city.

A graduate of the Aleppo's military pilot school in 1973, Gen Faris joined a Soviet crew on the orbiting space station Mir in 1987, for which he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union and also received the Order of Lenin.

Read more: http://stprdfeeds.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/world/story/syrias-first-astronaut-defects-turkey-report

[Ian David]

1. Wow, Mahir's house is getting crowded. n/t

[randome]

2. Imagine the confusion of shoes!

(Don't they take them off when inside?)

[Panasonic]

3. Mahir.

Are we referring to that weirdo that had this weird Turkish website.

http://www.istanbul.tc/mahir/mahir/ (this is a mirror, but the original one is down)

[Historic NY]

5. A Turkish Borat?

[Ian David]

6. Mahir is a real person, and he predates Borat. n/t

[Historic NY]

7. Cousins.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

4. Ouch!

That's gotta hurt the credibility of the leadership.