A former General in the Syrian Republican Guard, who defected to Turkey in July, has claimed that French secret agents helped him escape.
"The French [intelligence] services helped me get out of Syria and I thank them for that," said General Manaf Tlass to French TV Channel BFM.
"For me the situation in Libya is nothing like Syria, it is much more complicated. I don't see any foreign intervention being able to reach a solution," Tlass added.
The General was criticised by rebels even after his defection, as he was in President Assad’s inner circle, but he said he has been on the rebel side ‘since March’.
"Since the start of the revolution I had meetings with the revolutionaries ... and I had the feeling from the first days, the first months that the regime was lying to everybody. That is why I at first defected while staying in my office," he said.
"My role is to unify and bring together our people. There are many groups working in our society whether the army, internally or externally,
"We need to create a compact chain to bring this regime down."
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