Major General Abdul Aziz Jassem al-Shallal who has reportedly
fled to Turkey appeared in a video aired late on December 25 by Dubai-based Al
Arabiya TV, saying he is joining "the people's revolution.
''I have defected because of the deviation of the army from
its primary duty of protecting the country and its transformation into gangs of
killing and destruction, the destruction of cities and villages, and committing
massacres against our unarmed people who went out to demand liberty,"
al-Shallal said. "Long live Syria free and strong."
Dozens of generals have defected since Syria's uprising
began in March 2011. Shallal, a Sunni Muslim, is one of the most senior among
them and held a top post at the time he apparently fled Syria.
Meanwhile, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights said on December 25 that more than 1,000 people have been killed in
Syria during the past week -- raising the overall death toll since the uprising
began to more than 45,000 people.