Beirut: The first defection of a member of President Bashar Al Assad’s inner circle highlights the growing isolation of the Alawite-dominated regime as the United Nations considers next steps to usher in a transitional government.
Syrian Brigadier-General Manaf Tlas, a Sunni, was a confidant of Al Assad, who is Alawite, an offshoot of Shiite sect. His defection was announced in Paris by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius at a Friends of Syria meeting in Paris.
The decision by a Sunni regime insider to abandon Al Assad “underscores the very real worry that this war is turning into a civil war drawn along religious, communal lines,” said Joshua Landis, director of the Middle East programme at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, in response to e-mailed questions.
“If that happens, the regime will fall apart,” Landis said. “The Alawites cannot rule Syria alone.”
An uprising that began peacefully 16 months ago and evolved into a deadly confrontation has caused the international community to reconsider its strategy over how to persuade Al Assad, whose family has held power for four decades, to leave. Syrian forces battled with rebels in Aleppo in the north of the country as they sought to reassert control over the region, the UK- based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in an e-mailed statement. They also were conducting raids in Daraa province, the group said.
Childhood friends
More than 70 per cent of Syria’s population is Sunni and Al Assad and his ruling minority depend on the loyalty of Sunni officers.
Tlas, formerly a commander in the elite Republican Guard, is the son of ex-Defence Minister Mustapha Tlas and was a childhood friend of Al Assad. Before leaving the country, he headed Brigade 105 in the Revolutionary Guard, according to the pro-government website Syria Steps.
Tlas urged other soldiers, regardless of their rank, to “quit this bad track,” according to a letter to his troops with his signature, reported by Agence France Presse, which couldn’t verify the letter’s authenticity.
The rising violence in Syria, even with the presence of 300 UN military observers, will play a role in what the UN Security Council — where Russia has used its veto to shield Al Assad —will do next.
In a 25-page report, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recommends a reduction in the number of monitors in Syria, and having the smaller mission based in Damascus, to encourage a political dialogue. The UN monitors’ three-month mission expires July 20.
The drawback to this option is that “popular opinion may misinterpret intensified advocacy at the central level as privileging government prerogatives, while reducing access to opposition groups outside the capital,” Ban’s report said.
The Security Council will vote next week on a resolution based on Ban’s recommendations.