Syria’s army defectors

Cracks in the army

Defections from Bashar Assad’s armed forces are growing

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Readers' comments



It is interesting to note, how these dictators go from glory-to-rug in just a matter of few moths.

Much like in Iraq, Libya, Tunisia, and now Syria. The dictator is hailed as god. Surrounded by 15000 well armed solders, just to protect him. Multiple palaces, and all the luxuries one can think of.

Yet, in a matter of few months, almost all of them end up in a rat holes - literally. Abandoned by those who worshiped (or pretended) these leader.

Basher will be wise to read the writings on the wall, and take his family and leave the country as soon as possible. It is clear his days in Syria are over. Or he may end up the same as the others.


It's interesting to see the role that the armed forces are playing in this movement. Where we saw Egyptian forces mostly keeping it peaceful and letting it play out between the civilians and the police, it seems that in Syria the military has already forgotten their role to protect the people above the government.

McJakome in reply to relativelyanonymous

This is an interesting comment. Intervention has often been used by the US, France and others because, while imperfectly democratic, those they support were better than the other alternatives. Sometimes this has been true, other times it has been a fig leaf or an outright lie.

Thus the Egyptian military seems to have been more moderate in their actions, possibly because of western connections. Whereas the Al Assads get their support from regimes and movements not known for western or liberal scruples.


The mistreatment of troops in this country as well as the cruel nature these soldiers have on there citizens is possible a huge reason why these troops desert the armed forces and go into hiding. With the seperation of the troops from reality and the propaganda of the news that follows, shows how the nation is keeping its troops uninformed of what is happening around them besides what is being told to them by their superiors. But what is also something to note, is the attack of the defectors on the armed forces weapons and supplies, showing that they either finally see the corruption of the nation or are angered by how there lives have been lowered to being runners fearful of their lives. But it is only a matter of time until defactors have the number and supplies they need to initiate a civil war.

Clare S

They probably still have a long way to go before they can challenge Al-Assad, especially now that the UN has vetoed condemning their government. I'm thinking they will have more trouble overthrowing their government as foreign aid begins to falter. The first few countries that rebelled were a novelty, but now European/US interest has turned to other matters and the rebels face even more of an uphill battle. With the economic situation as it is and the problems NATO is facing, rebel forces will be on their own. Perhaps it is better this way, as they'll have to organize themselves without a crutch. I worry about the new government in Libya's success, now that they have no solitary focus: kill Gaddaffi. Good luck Syrian rebels, you'll need it.


Defectors are incredibly brave in this country where defecting can also get your family killed or you made an example of. With all of the defections this proves how repressive this military is and how unpopular. If your soldiers don't even want to be in the army how can you run a country. This place is a ticking time bomb for rebellion.

It is good to see that there is at least some organization in the Syrian defense against the oppression of Bashar al-Assad. I hope this force will be strong enough to deteriorate his army and finally trample him and his government. It is about time that he falls


The detail that most stood out to me in this article is just how isolated these soldiers are. Having no definitive contact with anyone from the outside world, keeps them attached to each other. The sleeping arrangements, of not knowing whom they will be bunking with on a night to night basis also rubs me the wrong way. I understand the ideology behind that decision but envisioning grown men who put there lives on the line in rooms with other strangers is disheartening in the least.


It is politically incorrect in liberal circles to analyse Arab politics along ethnic and tribal lines.
Liberal journalists will studiously ignore the aspect of Arab tribal ethnicity to the bitter end.
Nowhere is this intellectual castration more evident than in this article.
The internal turmoil in Syria is not the pitching of pro-democracy activists against the regime, as The Economist and the Rest will have you believe.
It is the Allawi tribe whom Assad belongs to, as well as the military leadership and much of the government who are pitched against the Sunni majority of other assorted tribes.
Selection to the elite units of the Syrian army is decided by whether the candidate is an Allawi or not, and so is advancement through the system decided, all the way to high command.
The Allawi vs the Sunni conflict is the basis of the civil war in Syria, but unfortunately liberal journalism will not let you in on this secret.


As Bin Ali, Hosni and Gadhaffi got kicked out by the desire of the people to move through better times fully of freedom and pride. I can see the crack in the army as the beginning of the end for Bashaar. I don't know why those leaders didn't learn from their fellow who got kicked out first. Dealing with the revolutions by letting them down by force is not going to work. It failed in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya so Bashaar should talk to them if he doesn't want to end up like Gadhaffi.

Miles Curley

this worries me because it sounds like syria is in the beginning of a civil war. I wonder what the defections will do to this situation. This seems like it's gonna get ugly no matter what happens. it's only gonna effect the government and the country in a negative way. the rebels in my opinion need to come together and try and overrun this oppressed government. no matter what the rebellion is definitely on the horizon.


First, let me be clear, I am not Syrian nor associated with the Syrian regime in any way. I am simply disgusted by the unipolar, extremely biased western media coverage of the Syrian situation. I hope others raise their voice in support, so that an unecessary bloodbath and civil war (à la Libya), but much worse and much bigger can be avoided.

It is clear that the author of this article is making an article with selective facts, while being as far from objective as earth is from galaxies far far away!

Robert Fisk of the independent, although critical of the Syrian government has reported today about: a) the million person march in Damscus yesterday in support of the government, a demonstration that clearly represents the FACT that most Syrians are pro-regime and ALMOST ALL minorities in Syria, especially Christians are also pro-regime B) his interview of a Syrian government official which showed a frank and honest description of the situation.

Here is what Assad and his regime are really up against:

1- millions of dollars in cash and arms being channeled to insurgents along its borders with Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Israel
and Turkey. That's five countries, not counting a major potential source of extremist funding (Saudi Arabia) and not mentioning potential covert funding by the US and western secret services.

2- Sworn enemies of the Syrian regime include Lebanon's Sunni billionaire, Saad Hariri, whose father made his millions in Saudi Arabia.

3- Syria still is a refuge for millions of Iraqi Sunni refugees and thousands of Palestinian sunni refugees.

4- Syria is under severe economic sanctions

5- Syria's government is the victim of a propaganda war sponsored by its enemies and by western media which acts like an echo chamber to agents of Hariri, Saudi, CIA, Mossad and al Qaeda agents based outside Syria and claiming to know better what is going on inside Syria, while reporting all deaths as "peaceful protesters being massacred by the regime" while it was obvious from the early days that arms and money have been flowing across its borders to pay and manipulate insurgents. The government calls these armed gangs terrorists and that is a "fair description". Again go back and read R Fisk article where he mentioned how Christians in Homs are being intimated and murdered by armed gangs.

6- The regional geo-politics creat a necessity for the US, the West, Israel, Saudi, Hariri and Al Qaeda, essntially all of Iran's enemies, a necessity to trigger a regime change in Damascus to be replaced by a Sunni anti-Iranian. The necessity is as a result of the "own goal" scored through the Iraq war that installed an Iranian pupped regime in Baghdad. Even Iran would be happy with that, happy to stop their hegemony at Iraq's borders as with Syria an ally their regional hegemony is cause for a severe over-reaction.

So poor Young Assad's calls for reform and the poor majority of Syrians of are great supporters, especially in Damascus and Aleppo (the two largest cities), the poor great majority of Syrians (supporters and honest opponents) that value democracy and plurality are being abandoned by the major western powers, in order to satisfy the regional geo-political priority of buffering Iran.

Now here is a challenge for the west: why instead of sanctions don't you press and insist on self determination of the Syrian people through fair elections? Assad is all for it. Work with him and make a peaceful transition happen, instead of maintaining the complicity, hypocrisy, sanctions and propaganda and that are sure to lead Syria to civil war and self mutilation. The vast majority of Syrians don't want to see this horrible outcome happen and that is why they came out in the millions to protest yesterday and not even a line of coverage in your aticle or even in page 32 of most newspapers, where they usually bury the news about Nato member Turkey massacring dozens of Kurd insurgents! Disgusting, biased, unipolar news outfit!


15,000 soldiers is a good start for an opposing force.
No doubt they can count on many civilians for at least some basic support. It is a good start.

I would expect some young men from the Arab Spring to trickle into the area, but we'll have to see how many show up, and what skills they bring.

My gut says this will be a slow burn.


If this proves to be true and significant numbers of the Syrian military are defecting, it will greatly increase the chances of the rebels winning the revolution. the biggest problem with any revolution is the lack of military training by those rebelling. Generally, the people rebelling have little to no training, but if something close to 15,000 soldiers have defected, that changes things significantly. If, as the article says, these men are organized, and can train other rebels, this is a huge problem that the Syrian army would have to worry about. Considering that the rebels rely on guerrilla warfare, something all rebellions must utilize, this is a significant number of troops to try to hunt down. Assad has already been told by several other world leaders that he needs to step down. If he does not, this well trained rebel group could easily become something that other countries choose to support, either through weapons, money, or training. I think it will be interesting to see how this plays out in the next year or so.


Don't these dictators ever consider just quitting? Their time is up, writing is on the wall....and they could probably still live a life of relative comfort if they simply left the country rather than staying and getting murdered like Colonel Gadhafi.


The defectors are actually standing up for themselves which is good. Maybe they will stand up to al-Assad like Gadaffi's country did. I don't blame them for being defectors.

yay Syrian armed forces's light bulbs finally lit up! If Bashar Assad is a bit smarter he would just step down instead of going down with the ship. You know what happens when you go down with the ship? You die. Look at his pal Gadaffi, Gadaffi decided to go down with the ship well more like a pipe but still he got shot in face in the end. If Bashar doesn't want to get shot in the face, he should just give up the power. This Arab Spring party is going wild, Bashar is on stage next.


I think this rebellion is the first step in a long battle for Syria. Even though the Arab League is putting a little pressure on al-Assad, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy to just give up easily, even though he has seen what's happened in Libya to Quaddfi. So maybe that has shaken his nerves a little, but it also may not have changed anything. I wonder, though, if the Syrian rebels can pull off what the Libyan rebels did without the help of NATO/team west. I think this is going to be a long battle for these people. Hopefully, al-Assad will flew the country and a new government can be formed, but as I said before, I don't see him going down without a fight.


Another Arab spring? It sure looks like it. And now that the rebels are getting some military support (military as in they know how to handle weapons), I feel it's likely that they could see some real change. But it won't come without cost, as it already has, unfortunately. I don't even want to think about what they did to the "prominent defector" to make him publicly retract his statement. It's disheartening, but if they stick with it and pull together, I think the Syrian citizens could have a real shot at change.


You think the government would just take a hint that something they are doing isn't right. The army is typically the ones who should be protecting the people and their government and if the soldiers are starting to defect that means that the government as screwed up way too much in putting down the uprising. It is only a matter of time before the majority of the army defects and the current regime will have no choice but to change or risk its complete and utter destruction. It will be hard for loyal and defectors alike to fight each other. It is hard for someone to fight a former comrade and they defectors have made their choice and their is no going back, only the soldiers can become defectors and not the other way around. It looks to me like the defectors numbers will not only increase, but the rate at which they increase will also increase.



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