Al-Asaad (not Bashar al-Assad) is now staying in a refugee camp in the southern province of Hatay after escaping from his post in the Syrian Air Force in July. Nearly 7,608 refugees are currently sheltering in Turkish camps along the border with Syria.
The number of military defections in Syria is increasing, said al-Asaad, who is the leader of a group of similar defectors that are now calling themselves the Free Syrian Army.
"Right now there are more than 10,000 defectors in the Free Syrian Army, and the number is increasing day by day," al-Asaad said. "Defecting soldiers are setting up ambushes against government forces to prevent them from entering the villages."
Erdogan is cooperating with a NATO missile shield in exchange for weapons that he will use against his Kurds and will use against the Jews in Israel. This appears to be upsetting the Iranians.(AlArabiya) Formed in Istanbul at the end of August, the Syrian National Council unites all the major known factions opposing Assad’s rule, both inside and outside Syria. It includes the Local Coordination Committees, an activist network spurring protests in Syria, the long-banned Muslim Brotherhood as well as Kurdish and Assyrian groups. The formation of the council has been welcomed by Western countries including the United States and France. However, unlike the transitional council set up by Libyan rebels who overthrew Muammar Qaddafi, they have not offered it any formal recognition.
Rahim-Safavi said trade ties with Turkey -- which is an importer of
Iranian gas and exporter of an array of manufactured goods -- would be
in jeopardy if Ankara does not change its course.
"If Turkish political leaders fail to make their foreign policy and ties with Iran clear, they will run into problems. If, as they claim, they intend to raise the volume of contracts with Iran to the $20 billion mark, they will ultimately have to accommodate Iran."
...but Turkey isn't scared of Iran. Iran needs Turkey more then Turkey needs Iran... and Turkey is benefitting by unscrupulous dealings between Iran and NATO. There is no incentive for this behavior to stop
"If Turkish political leaders fail to make their foreign policy and ties with Iran clear, they will run into problems. If, as they claim, they intend to raise the volume of contracts with Iran to the $20 billion mark, they will ultimately have to accommodate Iran."
Turkey has already started to see the benefits of its decision to host a special radar for NATO's planned missile shield as the United States promised to transfer three AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters to Ankara's control for use against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. U.S. Ambassador to Ankara Frank Ricciardone told reporters Sept. 30 that the U.S. had agreed to transfer three AH-1Ws to the Turkish military to be used in the fight against the PKK.
Iran_already has expressed its ire against Turkey," said an Ankara-based defense analyst familiar with U.S.-Turkish relations. "So something more is expected to come from the United States, probably in terms of equipment and in political support." Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently announced that a number of MQ-1 Predator drones would also be acquired from the U.S.; Turkey had asked for both unarmed and armed versions of the Predator nearly three years ago. The MQ-1 Predator is mainly the surveillance version, and the MQ-9 Reaper is the armed version.
