Report: Assad's inner circle plans defection if Syria unrest boils over
Senior Syrian government officials are quietly preparing plans to defect to the country's opposition in the event that a 15-month uprising in the country manages to destabilize the regime of President Bashar Assad, the British newspaper Daily Telegraph reported on Thursday. “We are seeing members of Bashar Assad’s inner circle make plans to leave,” an unnamed senior U.S. official told the newspaper.
According to the report, members of the regime have also established contact with representatives of Western governments and begun moving large sums of money into foreign bank accounts in Lebanon and China.
The report also quoted a senior member of the Syrian opposition, also unnamed, who confirmed that opposition groups were seeking American assistance in encouraging the defection of members of the regime.
“I know for sure there are some high-ranking officers who are waiting for the right chance to defect," said the opposition member. “We have names of people in the presidential palace. There are rumors that there is one who is really close to the president and we are expecting to see him out of the country soon.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/report-assad-s-inner-circle-plans-defection-if-syria-unrest-boils-over-1.440448?localLinksEnabled=false
And please note wrt to Turkish plane, for all the conspiracy theorists:
A.Cooper @AC360 began its prime time news show with the downed Turkish jet story.. @IvanCNN said so far Ankara tries to de-escalate situation
= new reply since forum marked as read
