BEIRUT — A Syrian general was among the latest defectors from the Syrian military, officials said Monday, after dozens of Syrian soldiers fled overnight to Turkey, crossing the border with their families.
The general defected in recent days, Turkish officials said. Then, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency, 33 soldiers crossed the border overnight, including a second general and two colonels.
But a Turkish government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government rules, said the group included three colonels and there was no general.
The two accounts could not immediately be reconciled.
Thousands of soldiers have abandoned the Syrian regime, but most are low-level conscripts. The rebel Free Syrian Army, which is based in Turkey, is made up largely of defectors. Anadolu said 224 people crossed into Turkey overnight, the latest blow to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime.
The officer who defected separately in the past few days was a brigadier general, Turkish officials said. In January, a brigadier general appeared in Turkey, the highest ranking officer to defect up to that point.
The defectors who crossed into Turkey overnight were brought to a refugee camp in Hatay, a province bordering Syria. Turkey is host to about 33,000 Syrians who are seeking refuge from the violence.
Activists say more than 14,000 people have been killed since the uprising began in March 2011.
There are widespread fears that the conflict could spark regional unrest. Those fears mounted Friday when Syrian forces shot a Turkish military plane out of the sky.
Syria insists that the Turkish plane violated its air space. Turkey disagrees, saying that though the plane had strayed into Syria’s air space, it was inside international airspace when it was brought down.
Turkey’s Energy Minister, Taner Yildiz, meanwhile, suggested Turkey will cut electricity supplies to Syria. Turkish companies provide Syria with around 10 percent of Syria’s annual power consumption. Yildiz said a decision on the issue could be announced Tuesday.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to address legislators in parliament Tuesday and reveal what measures Turkey will take against Damascus for downing down the plane.
Also Monday, the Red Cross said hundreds of civilians are trapped in the city of Homs and aid workers cannot reach them because of the fighting. Homs has been one of the hardest-hit areas in Syria as regime forces try to crush the opposition.
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Turkey: NATO should view Syria as attacking it • ANKARA, turkey — Turkey said Monday it would push NATO to consider Syria’s downing of a Turkish jet as an attack on the military alliance. The announcement came on the eve of a meeting by NATO’s governing body to discuss the incident. Despite frustration among many NATO countries over the conflict in Syria, where the opposition says President Bashar Assad’s crackdown on a popular uprising has killed 14,000 people, it’s unlikely the military alliance will take armed action.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc also said for the first time that Syrian forces had opened ground fire on a CASA search and rescue plane shortly after the downing but did not say if that plane was hit.
Arinc said Turkey has a right to “retaliate” against what he called a “hostile act,” but he added, “We have no intention of going at war with anyone.” The Associated Press
