Associated Press
Associated Press
PARIS — A top Syrian general’s defection is the first major crack in the upper echelons of President Bashar Assad’s regime, buoying a 100-nation conference Friday meant to intensify pressure for his removal, as well as an opposition desperate to bring him down but frustrated by diplomatic efforts.
All hoped the defection of Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlass, an Assad confidant and son of a former defense minister who helped ease Assad into power, would have a snowball effect on his elite cohorts as Syrians count their dead — now more than 14,000.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Syrian leaders “are starting to vote with their feet” by abandoning the four-decade-old Assad dynasty, which continues to defy international efforts for peace. “Those with the closest knowledge of Assad’s actions and crimes are moving away,” she told reporters at the close of the conference.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was more blunt. Tlass’ defection means that even the inner circle of Syria’s ruler is starting to realize “that you cannot support a butcher like Mr. Bashar Assad,” he declared.
The conference of the so-called “Friends of Syria” group brought together the U.S., its European and Arab partners, and the fractious Syrian opposition, all looking to turn up the heat to force Assad from power.