LONDON, Sept. 4. / Correspondent. ITAR-TASS Alan BUD /. Syrian television has denied today’s statement of opposition to flee to Turkey, the former defense minister Ali Habib. According to the TV, he is at home.
“Media reports that former defense minister Ali Habib is outside of Syria, did not correspond to reality. He is still at home,” – said in a statement broadcast on television Syrian official representatives.
“It is an important source of information”
The fact that Ali Habib, who served as defense minister from June 2009 to August 2011, allegedly fled to Turkey, told Reuters today a member of the National Coalition opposition and revolutionary forces of Syria / NKORS / Kamal al-Labvani. He said that former Defense Minister broke with the government of President Bashar al-Assad, however, despite this, not defected to the opposition.
“Habib Ali managed to escape from the clutches of the regime and is now in Turkey, but that does not mean that it has joined the opposition. I said this diplomat from a western country”, – told reporters Reuters Kamal al-Labvani, which is in Paris.
told Reuters a source in one of the countries of the Persian Gulf, Ali Habib on Tuesday arrived late in the evening on the border between Syria and Turkey. He was accompanied by two or three more Syrian officer, who also decided to flee the country, the source said. According to him, the former defense minister has been taken into Turkish territory.
Kamal al-Labvani said that one of the western states helped Ali Habib escape from Syria. “It is an important source of information. Habib has long made a career in the military. He was virtually under house arrest because it opposed the killing of protesters,” – said the representative of the opposition.
Chronicle opposition in Syria since March 2011
One of the commanders of the anti-government Free Syrian Army told Reuters that Habib allegedly coordinated his escape with the United States.
However, later the Syrian opposition has not confirmed the information about the escape of Habib.
Why Ali Habib left his post
Habib Ali, born in 1939, was relieved of his post as minister of defense in 2009, officially because of health problems. The opposition said that he opposed the brutal suppression of the protests. After retiring from the post of a former defense minister appeared on Syrian television, and expressed support for the country’s authorities.
Ali Habib is a member of the Alawite community, which the President Bashar al-Assad.
Who else has left Syria
Last year, it was reported that another former Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlass, who held the post from 1972 to 2004, he went to France. His son Manaf Tlass, who was considered a childhood friend of Bashar al-Assad and commanded a brigade of the Republican Guard, also resigned and went abroad. The family Tlass belongs to the Sunni community, part of which supports oppozitsiyu.V August 2012 from Syria escaped ex-premier Riyad Hijab.
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