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Report: Splits in the Syrian Army

(Washington Post) Liz Sly - On the Lebanese side of the border with Syria, hundreds of people, most of them Syrians who had fled the fighting at home, watched the battle raging just a few hundred yards away between Syrian troops and unspecified assailants who, the Syrians said, represented "the people," who were attacking a Syrian army post. Many of the Syrians watching the fight said Sunni Syrian soldiers had defected that morning and turned against the minority Alawite regime. Hundreds of Syrians have flooded into Lebanon over the past two days. Many of the protesters who escaped Sunday said the Syrian army was in the process of splitting along sectarian lines, with Sunni troops joining the opposition against soldiers from the Alawite Shiite sect to which Assad and most members of his regime belong.
2011-05-16 00:00:00
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