Brigadier-General Manaf Tlas, a senior commander in Syria's Republican Guard and a close friend of President Bashar al-Assad, has defected to Turkey in what is seen as the most high-profile defection from the inner circle of the Syrian leadership since the anti-regime unrest began 16 months ago.
Media reports and websites of Syrian opposition groups claimed Friday that Gen. Tlas had escaped from Damascus and is currently in Turkey. Although pro-regime websites dismissed his defection as "insignificant," opposition groups claimed that it reflected an erosion of support for the regime.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius confirmed Gen. Tlas' defection, saying that the Brigadier-General was a "personality who belongs to the Republican Guard of Bashar al-Assad and was for a long time was one of his friends and close to him".
"Even those close to Assad have begun to understand that one cannot support a slaughterer like Bashar al-Assad," Fabius said while addressing reporters after a meeting of the Friends of the Syrian people in Paris.
Separately, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who also attended the Paris meeting, said the "increasing stream of senior military defectors" indicated that "regime insiders and the military establishment were starting to vote with their feet."
"Those who have the closest knowledge of Assad's actions and crimes are moving away, and we think that's a very promising development," she added.
It is understood that Gen. Tlas, who attended military college alongside the Syrian President, was under house arrest in Damascus since May 2011 after he opposed the brutal suppression of anti-regime protests involving mostly Syria's majority Sunni Community.
Incidentally, Gen. Tlas is a Sunni Muslim and was a rare representative of the majority community in the Syrian leadership dominated by members of President Assad's fellow Alawite community. Many of Tlas' close relatives have already defected from the army to join the Sunni-dominated Free Syrian Army rebels.
Gen. Tlas, son of former Defense Minister Mustafa Tlas who is reportedly living in France, was reportedly among the first senior Syrian government officials who attempted to start a dialogue with opposition groups as part of efforts aimed at finding a political solution to the conflict.
Mustafa Tlas, who was defense minister under Assad's father Hafez for 30 years and played an important role in ensuring the current president's succession 12 years ago, fled Syria to France with Manaf's elder brother after the unrest began.
The UN estimates more than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, dead in Syria and tens of thousands displaced since the uprising against President Assad began in March 2011. The Opposition claims the death toll to be much higher. Notably, the Assad regime still blames "armed terrorist gangs" backed by Islamists and foreign mercenaries for the violence.
The international community is currently trying to implement a six-point peace plan proposed by joint UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan to resolve the Syrian crisis. But Syrian rebel groups have said that they were no longer committed to Annan's plan, citing continued killings of civilians by Syrian security forces.
Annan's plan calls for an end to violence that has gripped the Middle Eastern country, access for humanitarian agencies to provide relief to those in need, the release of detainees, the start of inclusive political dialogue, and unrestricted access to the country for the international media.
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