Al Arabiya , 24 March 2012 – As Syrians took part of “Damascus here we come” demonstrations across the country on Friday, a pilot rejected orders to kill civilian protesters and instead targeted a military security building in Aleppo.
After depleting his ammunitions, the pilot flew to Turkey, a country that already hosts Syrian army defectors. Head of the opposition Free Syrian Army (FSA), Colonel Riad al-Asaad, is currently residing in Turkey.
A member of the Syrian National Council (SNC) confirmed that the defected pilot has reached Turkey, and said that President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has become incapable in controlling the army. Fearing an attack against the presidential palace, the army is sending military pilots without ammunitions, the SNC member added.
But a Syrian official denied that the pilot has defected and fled to Turkey, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported him as saying on Saturday.
Friday clashes, demos
Meanwhile, Syrian forces bombed towns and clashed with rebels in several regions as activists said thousands staged anti-regime protests.
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators turned out Friday in the hot spots of anti-regime revolt across Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
At least 33 people were killed in violence nationwide, the Britain-based group said: 17 civilians, 13 soldiers and three army deserters.
Nine civilians died in districts in Homs hit by gunfire and rockets, it reported.
At least three deserters and a civilians were reported killed in fighting between regime forces and army deserters in Aazaz in the northern province of Aleppo near the Turkish border, the Observatory and activists said.
“Troops are bombing and helicopters flying overhead,” activist Mohammed Halabi told AFP in Beirut by telephone from the province. The fighting had been going on since midday Thursday, he said.
Aazaz, strategically positioned on the road to neighboring Turkey, is a supply route for FSA rebels.
Fierce clashes also erupted mid-afternoon between soldiers and deserters in the villages of Haritan and Anadan, between Aleppo and Aazaz, Halabi said. The Observatory said two civilians were killed in Anadan.
Troops shelled the two villages after deserters attacked a convoy of tanks headed for Aazaz, the activist said.
U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan was to travel this weekend to Moscow and Beijing, the two countries that have blocked Security Council action against Syria over the crackdown.
But he had no immediate plans to return to Damascus.
In related story, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano moved Friday to allow Syrians in the United States to stay beyond their visas and avoid the risk of returning to their violence-torn country.
Napolitano said in a statement that, “in light of deteriorating conditions in Syria,” the Department of Homeland Security will be designating Syria temporary protected status (TPS) for Syrians currently in the United States.
