Eight Syrian military officers, including one general and two colonels, have defected to Turkey together with 24 family members, a Turkish official confirmed to dpa Monday. The official confirmed that the 32 Syrians had arrived in southern Turkey overnight Sunday, but was unable to confirm whether their defections were directly related to the increasingly tense stand-off between Turkey and Syria following the downing of a Turkish fighter plane by Syrian forces. "There is continuing flow of Syrian police and military personnel arriving. This is the 13th general who has defected," he said.
