Fighter pilot flies to asylum
A Syrian Air Force colonel flew his MiG fighter jet from a military base near Damascus to Jordan yesterday and asked for political asylum.
The defection, believed to be the first involving a Syrian pilot and his aircraft, came as Russia admitted that a cargo ship destined for Syria that was forced to turn back while sailing through British waters was carrying attack helicopters.
The Syrian Air Force pilot, identified as Colonel Hassan Merhi al-Hamade, reportedly took off from a base at Dumayr, northeast of Damascus, yesterday morning on a routine training flight.
The Syrian Sana news agency said that contact with Hamadeh’s MiG 21 was lost about 10.34am.
When he landed at King Hussein Air Base 70 kilometres north of Amman, he took off his air force tag and knelt on the tarmac in prayer.
‘‘He was given asylum because if he returned home his safety will not be guaranteed. He may be tortured or killed,’’ a Jordanian official said.
The Syrian regime has been making greater use of air power in its effort to suppress an increasingly resilient opposition, deploying Russian-made attack helicopters.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich admitted yesterday that the MV Alaed cargo ship was carrying a consignment of Mi25 attack helicopters bound for Syria when it was forced to return to port on Wednesday.
The Curacao-registered ship abandoned the voyage when its British insurers withdrew its cover on learning that the cargo was in breach of European Union sanctions against arms deliveries to Syria.
Lukashevich said that the ship would dock in the Russian port of Murmansk tomorrow and then return to Syria under the Russian flag.
Last week, United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, accused Russia of supplying the Syrian regime with helicopters to use against the opposition.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded that Russia was honouring an earlier contract to service Syria’s fleet of Soviet-era aircraft.
The row prompted the Arab League to call on Russia yesterday to halt its arms sales to the Syrian regime.
‘‘Any assistance in aiding violence should be stopped. When you deliver military equipment you are helping to kill people. That should be stopped,’’ Ahmed Ben Helli, the deputy secretary-general of the Arab League, told Russia’s Interfax news agency.
Russia has been a key supplier of weapons to Syria since the Soviet era and the lucrative trade is one reason why Russia has opposed Western-led efforts to oust the Assad regime.
Those armaments include advanced anti-aircraft systems that have enabled Syria to build one of the densest air defence networks in the world, greatly complicating any plans by the West to intervene militarily.