defectors

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Syrian Diplomat Defects as Aleppo Fighting Rages

Rebels seize key strategic points outside the city

(Newser) - Syria's most senior diplomat in London defected today, saying that he no longer wanted to represent a "violent and oppressive" government, the UK Foreign Office announced today. The office says Charge d'Affaires Khaled al-Ayoubi is staying in a safe place in Britain, the BBC reports, and hailed...

Suicide Blast Kills Syria Defense Minister
 Suicide Blast Kills 
 Key Assad Henchmen 
UPDATED
Jul 18, 2012 7:43 AM CDT

Suicide Blast Kills Key Assad Henchmen

State TV reports that more officials seriously wounded

(Newser) - A regime-shaking suicide attack on the National Security building has killed Bashar al-Assad's defense minister and brother-in-law, according to the country's state-run TV. The New York Times calls the death of defense minister Daoud Rajha the "first assassination of a prominent official" in the entirety of the...

Dozens Defect Syrian Army as Rebels Cry Genocide

Europe calls for measured response to downed Turkish plane

(Newser) - The Syrian military has been hit with a raft of new defections: Six officers and 33 soldiers today quit the country for Turkey. Reports suggest they brought their families along, bringing the total number to 224 people. Accounts differ as to whether the defectors included an army general. They add...

Syrian Pilot Defects With Plane
 Syrian Pilot Defects With Plane 
Jun 21, 2012 11:51 AM CDT

Syrian Pilot Defects With Plane

He's staying in Jordan on 'humanitarian grounds'

(Newser) - A Syrian fighter pilot deserted today—and he took his jet with him. A pilot identified as Colonel Hassan Hamada, 44, went AWOL during a training mission near the Jordanian border today, then landed in Jordan and requested political asylum, Reuters reports. His motives aren't terribly mysterious: His hometown...

Libya's Ex-Oil Minister Found Floating Down Danube River

Shukri Ghanem's body shows no signs of violence: police

(Newser) - Libya's former oil minister, who defected during the height of his country's uprising, was found floating dead down the Danube river in Austria today. Shukri Ghanem's body showed no signs of violence, although "there would be no signs of violence if someone pushed him in,"...

Army Defector: 'Hitler Awoke in Syria'

Rebel tells New York Times of atrocities by Assad's forces

(Newser) - What drives the rebels of the Free Syrian Army? Ask Ammar Cheikh Omar. Raised in Germany to Syrian parents, he'd moved to Syria to attend law school and start a family. But in 2010 he was drafted into the Syrian military, and soon found himself in Daraa, ordered to...

Are North Korea's Elite Defecting?

Reports from South Korea say some senior officials don't want to go home

(Newser) - In Kim Jong Il's death, an opportunity to escape? Maybe. Reports out of South Korea say that members of the country's elite appear to be defecting—or considering it. "Many ranking North Korean officials in China are refusing to return after being summoned to North Korea,"...

Syrian Army Guns Down Deserters

More than 70 reportedly gunned down in one province

(Newser) - Syria finally agreed to allow Arab League observers into the country yesterday, in a deal that is supposed to help usher in the end to the crackdown on anti-government protesters—but even as it did so, troops yesterday slaughtered army deserters who were attempting to leave their bases. More than...

Dozens Dead in Syrian Town Clashes

Rastan is center for army defectors

(Newser) - Clashes with opposition forces have resulted in the deaths of seven soldiers and policemen in the central Syrian town of Rastan, a military official says; yesterday, 14 protesters were killed in the fighting, a human rights activist tells Bloomberg . Some 32 soldiers were wounded as they tried to stop “...

Big Move in Syria: Defectors Form Army

Formation of Free Syrian Army could lead to turnaround in uprising

(Newser) - A turnaround in the Syrian protests? That’s what supporters are hoping—and opponents are fearing—as a group of defectors attempts to organize an armed movement against President Bashar al-Assad. Until now, the protesters have been largely peaceful and mostly unarmed, and though defections had occurred in the past,...

5 Libyan Generals Defect to Rebels

One says Gadhafi's forces only 20% as efficient as they were before conflict

(Newser) - Five Libyan army generals who defected from Moammar Gadhafi's regime are appealing to fellow officers to join them in backing the rebels. Italian foreign ministry officials presented the generals, two colonels, and a major at a news conference in Rome today. Gen. Melud Massoud Halasa said Gadhafi's forces...

Libya Defector's Money Freed, 'Victims' Fume

Move will encourage others to desert Gadhafi, says administration

(Newser) - The Obama administration has lifted financial sanctions against high-profile Libyan defector Moussa Koussa. The official, formerly Moammar Gadhafi's intelligence chief and foreign minister, is suspected of involvement in numerous terrorist acts over the last 30 years, including the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, and the decision...

Iran Willing to 'Slaughter' Rebels: Defector

Regime would be brutal in efforts to hold onto power: former vice consul

(Newser) - Iranians have been inspired by the successful revolts in Egypt and Tunisia, but a diplomat who defected last month warns that Iran's regime is a much more brutal one. Iran would "slaughter" rebels rather than cede control, says Ahmed Maleki, who served as vice consul in Iran's Milan consulate...

Number of North Korean Defectors Surges Past 20K

As economic conditions worsen, more flee to South Korea

(Newser) - The number of North Koreans defecting to South Korea has surged in recent years because of economic suffering in the North, with more than 10,000 defections over the past three years, South Korea's Unification Ministry said today. About as many North Koreans have defected to the South since the...

N. Korea Fighter Pilot Killed in an Apparent Defection

Plane went down in Chinese corn field

(Newser) - This much seems clear: A North Korean fighter jet crashed into a corn field in China. (See the Wall Street Journal for photos.) Beyond that lies a ton of speculation, but the wires generally agree on this storyline: It was a lone pilot who tried to defect from Kim...

Story Murky, Iran Scientist Headed Home

But US officials say Shahram Amiri defected

(Newser) - The Iranian nuclear scientist who turned up in front of Iran's diplomatic mission in DC Monday night is headed back to Iran, but his story is no clearer. Shahram Amiri initially claimed he was kidnapped by CIA operatives in Saudi Arabia and held hostage in Tuscon for much of the...

N. Korean Refugees Dazed by Capitalist Life

(Newser) - They arrive undernourished and barely able to read. They marvel at credit cards, can’t stomach pizza, and when the lights dim in movie theaters, they panic, fearing kidnappers will strike. Welcome to the world of the North Korean defector in South Korea, where an ever-growing wave of refugees is...

7 Cuban Soccer Players Defect to US
7 Cuban
Soccer Players
Defect to US
Mar 13, 2008 12:27 PM CDT

7 Cuban Soccer Players Defect to US

Five are already in talks with pro team in Miami

(Newser) - Seven Cuban soccer players defected from the national team over the last two days—five on Tuesday and two last night—slipping from their Tampa hotel after a game to seek asylum in the US, the Miami Herald reports. The first five have contacted a lawyer and are in discussions...

CIA Recruited Iranian Officials to Defect

A 'handful' left in US plot to disrupt nuke program

(Newser) - The CIA plotted to recruit Iranian officials to defect and managed to entice a handful to do so over the last two years, reports the Los Angeles Times. The secret program, begun in 2005, was intended to disrupt Iranian nuclear research. The primary criterion for recruitment, according to a former...

Thousands Flee N. Korea Via Covert Network

Brokers charge $2K to $10K to reach Seoul through China

(Newser) - Thousands are fleeing Kim Jong Il's regime, thanks to an expanding network of brokers who smuggle defectors to Seoul through China, the Washington Post reports. Savvy Seoul brokers charge them up to $10,000 for a luxury "planned escape," complete with fake documents, but stakes are rising as...

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