Telegraph.co.uk
| Dec 26, 2012
The head of Syria's military police, General Abdelaziz Jassim al-Shalal, announces his defection from the army and declares allegiance to the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
Channel 4 News
| Nov 21, 2012
A report from the United Nations links Rwanda's defence minister James Kabarebe with the M23 rebel group which has been taking over towns and cities in the mineral-rich east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Jonathan Rugman reports.
LinkAsia
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MBC
| Oct 11, 2012
On the night of October 2nd, a North Korean soldier made his way across the heavily guarded DMZ undetected and knocked on the door of a South Korean Army barrack, indicating his desire to defect. South Korean broadcaster MBC breaks down the events...
Al Jazeera English
| Sep 28, 2012
Syrian rebels advanced on several fronts in their campaign to seize Aleppo, but without a significant breakthrough after hours of fierce fighting, commanders in the northern city said on Friday. "On the Salaheddin front (southwest), we took one o...
Al Jazeera English
| Sep 24, 2012
When former Chongqing municipality police chief Wang Lijun confessed to taking bribes and covering up the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood, he may have signed the death warrant for Communist Party star Bo Xilai's career. Bo's wife has b...
The New York Times
| Aug 22, 2012
The Times's C.J. Chivers travels with an antigovernment fighting group calling itself the Lions of Tawhid as it prepares to mount an attack on a regime checkpoint using a truck bomb. The Lions are fighting in and around Aleppo, where the war for S...
Telegraph.co.uk
| Aug 14, 2012
Former Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Hijab makes his first public appearance since defecting to Jordan saying the Assad regime is disintegrating and on the verge of collapse. He also called the government an "enemy of God" as he encouraged other reg...
Al Jazeera English
| Aug 6, 2012
There have now been 41 political and military defections from among President Assad's ranks and prime minister Riyad Hijab is the most high profile yet. In March, Brigadier General Manaf Tlass defected. He is the highest ranking militar...
Al Jazeera English
| Jul 27, 2012
Violence in Syria's bloody uprising against the government of Bashar al-Assad continues, as government troops gather near Aleppo and clashes are reported from Idlib and Deraa provinces. Meanwhile, Ikhlas al-Badawi, a member of the Syrian parliame...
— Jul 6, 2012 at 05:22 pm
— Mar 3, 2012 at 01:21 pm
...against the Assad regime in the main cities of Aleppo and Damascus, alongside dozens of demonstrations in cities like Homs, Daraa, Idlib and Lat...
— Jul 6, 2012 at 03:45 pm
...to the regime told AFP. France, hosting a meeting of about 100 countries from the so-called Friends of Syria group on Friday, confirmed the defe...
— Jul 8, 2012 at 01:44 am
...that has persisted to the point that the Syrian people have been forced to take up arms to defend their lives and honor. He will also be aware o...
— Aug 26, 2012 at 12:37 pm
...in Damascus on Saturday. Iran's state-run Press TV also reported that al-Sharaa had met with an Iranian official "amid anti-Assad TV's defection...
In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state in exchange for allegiance to another, in a way which is considered illegitimate by the first state. More broadly, it involves abandoning a person, cause or doctrine to which one is bound by some tie, as of allegiance or duty.
This term is also applied, often pejoratively, to anyone who switches loyalty to another religion, sports team, political party, or other rival faction. In that sense, the defector is often considered a traitor by his original side.
(via Freebase)
