Cracks in the army

摘要

Defections from Bashar Assad's armed forces are growing THE glue and the guts of President Bashar Assad's regime are the army and its allies in the police and the Mukhabarat, the intelligence service. So far they have generally stayed loyal. But defectors are growing in number and are getting better organised. Since the start of the uprising in March there have been defections, mainly from the ranks of Sunni conscripts. Some flee the country, others hide among civilians.In July, Riad al-Asaad, a colonel in his 50s,left for Turkey and announced the formation of the Free Syrian Army. Another group, calling itself the Free Officers Movement, also emerged.At the time the two organisations were thin. Defecting soldiers worked in small and disparate groups. But in late September the two outfits announced a merger. They now seem more coherent. The Free Syrian Army says it has 22 "battalions" across the country, with field leaders taking orders from a central command in Turkey. These include the Khalid bin Walid battalion in Horns, where clashes with loyalist forces have been fiercest. In the past few weeks, fighting has also broken out in Idlib, in the north-west, and al-Bukamal, on the border with Iraq.