Syrian Dissident Harmoush: I was Betrayed, Army Defection a Plot

Syrian Dissident Harmoush: I was Betrayed, Army Defection a Plot The dissident Major Hussein Harmoush admitted in a testimony broadcast on the Syrian TV on Thursday that he had been contacted by Muslim brotherhood members, Zouheir al-Siddiq, Mohammad Rahal, Abdul-Halim Khaddam, his two sons, and the office of the former Vice President Rifaat al-Assad, in addition to calls from radical cleric Adnan Araour and political dissent Borhan Ghalyoun after he defected from the Syrian Army on June 6, 2011. They promised him with money and gear, but got nothing.

On their need for weapons, Harmoush said: "The plot was to provide weapons for protecting the unarmed civilians, but weapons or any other materials mere not supplied." Al-Siddiq and the Muslim Brotherhood smuggled weapons into Homs, Hama, Idleb and the Palestinian Ramel in Lattakia, Harmoush added. He said that weapon smuggling from Turkey was carried out by merchants in the border areas where weapon merchants and smugglers exist, SANA reported. He also said that the first time he was video-taped was in Bdama district in Jisr al-Shughour when a person gave him SYP 50,000 and the person received about SYP 2 millions for the video tape. "I have been thinking about coming back since Ramadan 15, but I was shocked to be used as a trade and how people begged money in my name and offered many promises none of which was met." Harmoush concluded. The dissident added that he escaped from the Army because of the bloody events in the streets… a number of people were killed, and I am sure that the armed groups were the killers." "During my service in the Syrian Army, nobody has ordered me to fire at the civilians or any others, I didn't see or hear any commander in the army that had given orders to shoot fire at the civilians," Harmoush admitted. This comes as Syria has criticized the latest meeting of Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi with figures from the Syrian opposition. Syria presented the Arab League with a ‘strong formal protest memorandum’ over the latest meeting of its Secretary General with figures claiming to represent the Syrian opposition who, in turn, handed al-Arabi a list of demands calling for all forms of flagrant foreign interference, including the military intervention in Syria's internal affairs. Syria's Permanent Representative to the Arab League (AL) Yousef Ahmad, in the memo, expressed deep concern over this step as a serious precedent in terms of the joint Arab action, wondering of such irresponsible act by the AL Secretary General who exceeded his powers and mission defined by the AL charter in contrast to a firm fact that he is the secretary general of a regional organization representing Arab countries.

Source: Agencies Harmoush: I didn't Receive any Orders to Fire at Civilians… Armed Groups Were the Killers Col. Khallouf Martyred by Armed Terrorist Groups, Not by His Colleagues One Martyr, 6 Wounded in Armed Ambush against Army in Douma

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian