At least a dozen Syrian secret police have defected from an intelligence compound in a restive province near Turkey, the first major defection reported within the security apparatus leading the crackdown on protesters, activists said today.
A gunfight broke out overnight after the defectors fled the airforce intelligence complex in the centre of Idlib city, 280km northwest of Damascus, and ten people on both sides were killed or wounded, they said.
One activist in the city, who gave his name as Alaa, said army defectors based in the nearby Jabal al-Zawiya region were seen near the compound and helped the deserters escape in what appeared to be a co-ordinated operation.
"Armoured vehicles from an army barracks outside Idlib were called in to help defend the compound. The sound of AK-47s and machineguns echoed till dawn," he said.
Opposition sources estimate the number of defectors from the security forces at several thousand, mainly army recruits from Syria's Sunni Muslim majority. President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite minority sect has a tight grip on the country's military and security apparatus.
At least 23 people were reported killed yesterday as violence intensified in the eighth month of unrest against Dr Assad's rule, pushing the death toll close to 4,600, according to a leading activist group.
In a three-hour, night-time battle in the north-western city of Idlib near the Turkish border, seven members of the security forces, five army rebels and three civilians were killed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said.
Five civilians were shot dead by security forces in central Homs province, and a man's body was returned to his family five days after he had been arrested.
The United Nations' top human rights forum has condemned Syria for "gross and systematic" violations by its forces, including executions and the imprisonment of some 14,000 people.
Syrian authorities say they are fighting foreign-backed "terrorist groups" trying to spark civil war who have killed some 1,100 soldiers and police since March.
An "Arab Spring" of revolts - triggered by an uprising in Tunisia in January - has reshaped the political landscape of the Middle East this year and toppled leaders in Egypt, Libya and Yemen.
Syrian opposition groups say defectors from Syria's conscript army are increasing their attacks on government security forces trying to suppress revolt against 41 years of Assad family rule.
Reuters