Al-Omar claims that for five years he worked in the press office of the presidential palace in Damascus, as part of a 15-person team under the direction of long-time government spokeswoman and presidential adviser Bouthaina Shabaan. Until he defected and fled the Syrian capital last month, al-Omar said, the bulk of his work consisted of lying. ‘Our job was to fabricate, make deceptions and cover up for Bashar al-Assad’s crimes,’ he said.
Defecting Syrian propagandist says his job was ‘to fabricate’
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› Syrian prime minister 'defects' after two months | Al Akhbar
Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab defected to Jordan on Monday, only two months after being appointed to the job, an aide said.
A spokesperson for Hijab said he had arrived in the Jordanian capital Amman along with ten families after the Free Syrian Army (FSA) facilitated their safe passage out of Damascus.
› Syrian chargé d'affaires in London defects | Al Akhbar English
› The Angry Arab News Service | Syrian sinking ship
From Angry Arab’s chief correspondent in Syria:
The General “defected”. According to this report (Arabic): The Brigadier General Manaf Tlas fled to Turkey, a senior security source told Syriasteps (Arabic), a media outlet known for its connections with the Syrian Moukhabarat, adding that The Brigadier General Tlas was under surveillance by the Syrian Intelligence. The same source said that the Syrian Intelligence could arrest him be let him go without providing an explanation for this adding that he escaped after realizing the Syrian Intelligence has full information about his contacts with foreign parties and his role in supervising terrorist operations in Syria.
Mnaf Tlas is the younger son of Moustafa Tlas, the former minister of defense who live in Paris for few months now. The old brother of Manaf is Firas Tlas, a businessman who left to Egypt and said to become critical towards the regime. Before been defected, Mounaf Tlas used to be the commander of the 105th Brigade (Republican Guard).
Manaf Tlas could be the first fat rat evacuating the sinking ship of the Syrian Regime.
› Syrian official resigns over crackdown | Al Jazeera English
An attorney general in the central Syrian city has resigned from his post, in protest of what he called repression exercised by the Syrian regime.
Adnan al-Bakkour, speaking in a video footage posted on the internet on Wednesday, claimed to have witnessed over 70 executions and hundreds of civilians tortured while held in custody at Hama central prison last July.
Al-Bakkour said that he had been exposed to over 420 victims in mass graves by security forces, the arrests of peaceful protesters, the torture of prisoners by security services, and the demolition of homes.
In an interview with al Jazeera, al-Bakkour denied the regime’s claim that he was kidnapped by ‘armed gangs’. He went on to say that he was in a safe place defended by protesters.
[…]
The Britain-based Observatory said 360 civilians and 113 members of the security forces and army were killed in protests during the just-ended Muslim fasting month.
The civilians included 25 people under 18, 14 women and 28 who died in detention or under torture, the Observatory said, mainly in the central province of Homs.
