Syrian Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Jassem al-Shallal makes remarks saying he is joining “the people’s revolution” in this image made from video broadcast on Al Arabiya TV.BEIRUT – Syria’s wounded interior minister cut short his treatment at a Beirut hospital Wednesday and returned home for fear of being arrested by Lebanese authorities, while Syria’s chief of military police defected to the opposition, becoming one of the highest-ranking officers to switch sides.
The twin developments reflected the deepening isolation of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government, which has suffered a number of setbacks on the battlefield as well.
In the latest challenge, rebels launched a massive attack on a military base in the northern province of Idlib after laying siege to it for weeks.
The defector, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Jassem al-Shallal, becomes one of the most senior members of Assad’s regime to join the opposition during the 21-month-old revolt against his authoritarian rule.
Al-Shallal appeared in a video aired on Arab TV late Tuesday saying that he was casting his lot with “the people’s revolution.”