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Syrian Plane Goes Missing, Pilot Defects |
23 June 2012by Audrey Stevens, JTW
According to some opposition reports and Syrian state television, a Syrian warplane went missing on Thursday, making an emergency landing in Jordan. The pilot was on a training mission in Southern Syria when Syrian forces lost contact with the plane. Syria avoided the implication that it had lost control over the situation, despite rumors that the pilot was lost, ignored orders, or had defected. Later Jordanian officials confirmed the pilot was deliberately seeking to escape Syria into Jordan.
In the spring, Syrian forces uses fighter planes and helicopters to target rebel areas but worries remained over the effect of using the Syrian air force against resistance groups. Syria started using air forces only over the past few weeks, after months of trying to avoid prompting Western calls for a no-fly zone by refraining from using military planes. Many Syrian pilots in the air force are part of the Sunni Muslim majority who are also the majority among resistance forces, raising fears of defection from the Syrian air force.
This plane’s landing in Jordan would be the first air force pilot to defect during the 15-month struggle against the government in Syria. A representative from the Free Syria Army confirmed the pilot’s defection and claimed the organization followed his actions closely. The Free Syria Army representative also claimed the group encouraged the pilot to defect.
The missing plane’s pilot, Col. Hassan al-Mirei Hamadeh’s defection would provide a critical rallying point for resistance forces. According to Jordan's Information Minister and government spokesman Samih Maaytah, the pilot asked for political asylum. Including many police and army defectors an estimated 120,000 -125,000 Syrians have fled to Jordan in recent months. Approximately 20,000 have been registered with the United Nations.
The missing plane itself was from Russia and dating from the Soviet-era. Moscow has provided the largest supply of arms to Syria, earning criticism from the head of the Arab League and United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Providing missile systems which would aid the Syrian government in repelling outside intervention and in quashing internal dissent, Russia came under American and other leaders’ pressure to reduce weapons exports to the Syrian government. Arab League deputy general secretary Ahmed Ben Hilli went so far as to say Russia was helping Syria kill its own people.
This defection also carries potential side effects on Jordanian-Syrian relations. While political tensions exist, the two nations benefit from nearly $500 million in bilateral trade and have continued economic relations throughout the crisis in Syria. Syria is also an important transit country for the majority of its exports, making cooperative relations with Syria vitally important to Jordan’s economy.
Marking a change in Syrian policy of the use of the air force, increased migration from Syria to Jordan, and increasing strain on Jordanian-Syrian relations, the pilot’s escape to Jordan only adds to the uncertainty and instability in Syria. |
23 June 2012
Journal of Turkish Weekly
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