Opposition Sources: Defected Syrian Officers on Secret Visit to Moscow

A number of ranking Syrian officers who have defected the army are on a clandestine visit to Moscow to hold talks with Russian officials, Syria’s opposition sources announced.

Several former high-ranking Syrian army officers who have now joined the opposition travelled to Moscow on Sunday to meet senior officials of the Russian foreign and defense ministries, the opposition-run Sham Press news website reported on Monday.

The Syrian opposition delegation, headed by Fahd al-Masri, the coordinator of the so-called National Salvation Group in Syria, is comprised of defected officers of the Syrian army, intelligence body and the presidential guards.

Earlier this month, Head of the Syrian Lawyers Association Nazar Sakif blasted expatriate opposition figures for their support for the disintegration of Syria, saying that they are US puppets to implement its plots in the region.

Speaking to FNA about the conference of the Syrian opposition held in Cairo in early June, Sakif slammed the gathering because “it saw disintegration of Syria as the solution to this problem”.

“The expatriate Syrian opposition proved in the Cairo conference’s statement that they are just “pawns on the chess board”, and the enemies move them in a way that they can implement the Zionist-US plot to disintegrate the region into several small tribal countries.

The second Cairo conference for Syrian opposition forces was held in the Egyptian capital in early June despite a boycott by the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and opposition forces and growing tensions among the participants.