Al Arabiya, 17 Dec 2012 – Syrian President Bashar Assad has personally given direct orders to “oppress civilian demonstrations by all available means,” including murder, according to a defected colonel who served in the ministry of interior.

Speaking in an interview with Al Arabiya, Colonel Enad al-Abbas, who was in charge of writing reports based on data collected from police headquarters in the country’s 14 governorates, said that a report was delivered to Assad’s personal office a little after midnight every day.

Abbas said that comments on the reports were sent back to the ministry around 3 a.m. with directions to “oppress the demonstrations by all means.”

When police chiefs from across the country asked about the practical meaning implied by the order, they were told by Interior Minister Mohammad Ibrahim al-Shaar, “It means by all means, including murder.”

Before his defection in July 2012, Abbas served in the city of Salamiyeh – a city and district in western Syria, in the Hama Governorate.

He spoke during the interview about the policies the regime adopted to promote its allegations that the uprising taking place in Syria is one instigated by terrorists and fundamentalists.

In tears, the former Colonel spoke about the future of Syria and his own against a backdrop of a 21-month-old lingering conflict.