Syria: At Least 47 Killed By Government Forces Friday
At least 47 people were killed Friday by government forces in Syria anti-regime protesters took to the streets in several parts of the country, according to opposition activists. Mass protests were held in Hama, Homs and towns outside of Damascus.
Meanwhile, Hussein Harmoush a senior army defector who was captured by the regime forces, said that he escaped from the Army because of the bloody events in the streets. “A number of people were killed, and I am sure that the armed groups were the killers,” he “confessed”.
In comments to the Syrian TV broadcast Thursday, Harmoush said that in 2009 he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, then he joined a security course for one year at the National Institute for Security Sciences but he didn’t succeed, adding “on June 6, 2011, I announced my defection from the Syrian Arab Army.”
“During my service in the Syrian Army, nobody has ordered me to fire at the civilians or any others, I didn’t see or hear any commander in the army that had given orders to shoot fire at the civilians,” Harmoush added.
He went on to say “after my escape from the army, a lot of opposition figures abroad contacted me, but after 75 days, I discovered that the majority of them have given promises, including financial and logistic aid, weapons and others, but non has been met.”
On their need for weapons, Harmoush said “The plot was to provide weapons for protecting the unarmed civilians, but weapons or any other materials were not supplied.”
“Muslim brotherhood members were the first who have contacted me, all in unreal names, in addition to Zouheir al-Siddiq, Mohammad Rahal, Abdul-Halim Khaddam, his two sons and the majority of Antalya Conference figures,” Harmoush said.
He underlined that Muslim Brotherhood members asked him what he will do and he answered them “what do you have”, adding “there were some sides that suggested setting up a buffer zone through the Turkish Government near the border lines between Syria and Turkey.”
On providing him with weapons and money, Harmoush said “They were all promises… they promised to supply me with weapons and money for liberation, but they were just promises.”
