(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/121211-syria-defectors-830a.photoblog600.jpg)Manu Brabo / APSyrian army solider defectors are seen in a temporary prison, as Free Syrian Army fighters investigate their identity, not pictured, in the village of Azaz on Monday.By Ghazi Balkiz, NBC NewsNORTHERN SYRIA -- The former Syrian military intelligence officer had his family to think of. They lived on his base and would be punished if he joined the Syrian rebels who have been fighting the government of President Bashar Assad.
“You need to get your family out before you can defect,” Abu Mohammed told NBC News at a makeshift bomb-making factory in the outskirts of Aleppo just days after he had escaped. (Due to the location and nature of the interview, NBC was not able to confirm the soldier's account.)
Smoking cigarettes and wearing his army jacket and a woolly hat, he said his wife and three children faced certain imprisonment once the government found out he defected. They would have been used as a barging chip to force home to come back where he would face certain death, he said.
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Is that how bad things are now? May God help us all o