BICOM

A former Syrian general has spoken of the Syrian leadership’s plans to use chemical weapons, while it is reported yesterday that President Bashar Assad’s sister has defected to Dubai.

The Times reports this morning on comments made by Major-General Adnan Sillu, who formerly supervised Syria’s chemical arsenal, which is believed to be the third largest in the world. He defected to Turkey three months ago. Sillu claims that a meeting was held near Damascus, during which high-level officials discussed the deployment of chemical weapons.

Sillu said that they talked about using chemical weapons against Syrian civilians, especially in the country’s second city of Aleppo. Sillu commented, ‘we were in a serious discussion about the use of chemical weapons, including how we would use them and in what areas’.

Sillu also revealed that the Syrian regime had discussed the transferring of chemical weapons to Hezbollah for direct use against Israel. He said, ‘they wanted to place the warheads with the chemical weapons on missiles – to transfer them this way to Hezbollah.  It was for use against Israel, of course.’

Meanwhile, it was reported yesterday in Arabic media, that President Assad’s sister, Bushra Assad, has escaped Syria and fled with her children to Dubai. Her husband, Assef Shawqat, was Deputy Chief of Staff of the Syrian Armed Forces and was killed by Syrian opposition forces in July.  The reports of the defection suggest that Bushra Assad has fled in response to significant splits within the ruling Alawite sect, which she believes threatens her safety.