"SYRIA: Army, police officers defect, cross into Turkey
June 16, 2011 | 10:10 am
As Syrian troops sweep the country's northwestern province in a widening deadly campaign to root out dissent against Syrian leader Bashar Assad, a number of high-ranking Syrian army officers and policemen defected and crossed into Turkey Thursday, fleeing the violent crackdown, Turkish media reports say.
The semi-official Anatolia news agency said a Syrian lieutenant colonel and four soldiers had deserted their positions and taken shelter in Turkey 'after violence between government forces and anti-Assad protesters in Syria.'"
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