Former Syrian Defense Minister General Ali Habib defects

This guy is not going to know anything. He was pretty much out of the picture and at times under house arrest because he refused to order his troops to shoot the unarmed protesters at the start of all this. To bad he did not use his power at the time to just take out Assad instead when he gave those orders and this entire civil war could have been avoided. It is telling that the Syrian Army had over 30,000 officers at the start and now have only about 8,000 who have remained loyal with rest joining the rebels.

Originally posted by MrSpad
This guy is not going to know anything. He was pretty much out of the picture and at times under house arrest because he refused to order his troops to shoot the unarmed protesters at the start of all this. To bad he did not use his power at the time to just take out Assad instead when he gave those orders and this entire civil war could have been avoided. It is telling that the Syrian Army had over 30,000 officers at the start and now have only about 8,000 who have remained loyal with rest joining the rebels.

The same article that I linked to in the original posting has been edited, and expanded. It is now reporting that he is being groomed by the US, in the case of regime change, to become an interim (if not an actual, permaneant) leader of the new government.

reply to post by Catacomb


Are you sure you didn't read this in a separate article? I've read all of your links over again and I'm not finding that information anywhere.

Originally posted by Deetermined
reply to post by Catacomb

 

Are you sure you didn't read this in a separate article? I've read all of your links over again and I'm not finding that information anywhere.

Sorry, I did find the article. It's been kinda crazy, here, trying to follow this Syria mess. It is, indeed, a different article, and not an edited original that is in my OP. My apologies! The following is the article I read:

Labwani, the veteran dissident, said he believed that both Washington, which backs the opposition, and Moscow, which backs Assad, could act jointly to promote Habib for a post-war role.

"It seems that the Americans - and to a degree the Russians - are preparing him for a post-Assad role," he said, describing one possibility as Habib taking control of government forces and then negotiating with the rebels on a transitional government.

www.reuters.com...

Originally posted by GogoVicMorrow
reply to post by BobAthome

 

I don't see anyone going for war crimes without US boots on the ground.

Well there are other kinds of Boots over there. ie: Interpol / Foreign Legion /

And remember these guys,," The Syrian armed forces have also been involved in suppressing dissident movements within Syria, for example by fighting a Muslim Brotherhood insurrection in the 1980s "
"The 3rd Armoured Division was 'deployed around Damascus.' JDW commented that 'the Special Forces and the 3rd Armoured Division, along with the 1st Armoured Division are key elements in the security structure that protects Assad's government. Any command changes involving those formations have considerable political significance.'

Some Rabit Hole.

reply to post by bekod


didn't people make such claims about saddam hussain ?

Originally posted by Catacomb

Originally posted by MrSpad
This guy is not going to know anything. He was pretty much out of the picture and at times under house arrest because he refused to order his troops to shoot the unarmed protesters at the start of all this. To bad he did not use his power at the time to just take out Assad instead when he gave those orders and this entire civil war could have been avoided. It is telling that the Syrian Army had over 30,000 officers at the start and now have only about 8,000 who have remained loyal with rest joining the rebels.

The same article that I linked to in the original posting has been edited, and expanded. It is now reporting that he is being groomed by the US, in the case of regime change, to become an interim (if not an actual, permaneant) leader of the new government.

While he would have the support of Free Syrian Army mostly made up of defecting Syrian forces I do not know he would be able to create and find support for a polical party. This is the problem for the West with the rebels. They are organized to fight and win. While the radicals are organizing things like food, medicine, education etc. to try and hijack the the victory from the rebels. Like Mao did to the nartionalist in China. Now if the West and the Arabs step in with real support in those areas it would help keep the radicals from making gains. However with the global ecomonmy just coming back I do not know if anyone will fork up that kind of money.

Probably just another guy who wants to get out of the country before his side starts losing... he might also have potential crimes against humanity charges (NATO or other countries might have struck up a deal with him)...

But it definitely shows that things aren't looking too good for Assad

reply to post by altairpeaceandsecurity


The real story goes that he was under house arrest by Assad for refusing to order shooting on the protestors when this all started. He is being groomed as a potential leader in the new govt of Syria after Assad is dead. This does not mean he will necessarily join with rebels on the ground but he could become the face of support for the real Syrian rebels, not the various extremist factions who came to jihadi it up.
If they are actually establishing leadership for when the tidal wave of new US support starts flowing in to topple Assad, it will associate the aid with the real Syrian factions not the jihadists of Al Qaida.
There is lots of potential to this seemingly small story at the moment.