Syrian officers flee to Turkey
Dozens of Syria’s military have defected to Turkey with their families as tensions between the two countries grow over the shooting down of a Turkish jet fighter.
The state-run Anadolu news agency said 33 soldiers crossed into Turkey and the group – 224 people in all – included a general and two colonels.
The defections come three days after Syria shot down a Turkish aircraft it said had violated its airspace, further fraying relations between the two countries that were once allies.
Nato-member Turkey said the plane had unintentionally strayed into Syria but was inside international airspace when it was brought down. It has insisted the jet was on a training flight to test Turkey’s radar capabilities and was not spying on Syria.
Turkey has summoned a Nato meeting to discuss the incident, revoking article 4 of Nato’s founding treaty which allows an ally to request consultations whenever it feels its security is threatened.
Anadolu said the group of defectors was placed in a refugee camp in Hatay, a province bordering Syria but there was no further information. Turkey is hosting 33,000 Syrians who have crossed into Turkey to find refuge from the violence.
Thousands of soldiers have abandoned the Syrian regime, but most are low-level conscripts. The Free Syria Army – the loosely linked group of rebel forces – is made up largely of defectors.
Defectors affiliated with the Free Syrian Army and based in Turkey are known to collect food and other supplies to deliver to comrades on smuggling routes.
