Syria fighter pilot defects in new blow to Assad

A Syrian pilot was granted political asylum after landing his MiG fighter jet in neighbouring Jordan on Thursday, in the first such defection of a revolt a watchdog says has killed more than 15,000 people.

The blow to President Bashar al-Assad's regime from inside one of the most privileged arms of the security forces came as human rights monitors reported 119 people dead in one of the bloodiest days of the 15-month uprising.

"The council of ministers has decided to grant the pilot, Colonel Hassan Merei al-Hamade, political asylum," Jordanian Information Minister Samih Maaytah told AFP after a government official said the Russian MiG-21 had made an emergency landing at a base in Mafraq near the border.

Syrian state television said the plane was near the border when contact was lost at 0734 GMT, and Jordan said it crossed the frontier minutes later.

The opposition Syrian National Council said: "The plane took off at high speed and flew at low altitude from a military base between Daraa and Sweida in the south of the country... to avoid detection by radar."

"The pilot is from Deir Ezzor (in eastern Syria) and his family is known for its opposition" to Assad's regime, spokesman George Sabra added.

The Syrian defence ministry denounced Hamade.

"The pilot is considered a deserter and a traitor to his country, and to his military honour, and he will be sanctioned under military rules," said a ministry statement carried by state television.

"Relevant contacts have been made with the authorities in Jordan in order to recover the jet on which the traitor pilot made his getaway."

Washington welcomed the defection.

"This is how these things start," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

"It is obviously a significant moment when a guy takes a $25 million plane and flies it to another country."

Nuland spoke after National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor called the defection "just one of countless instances where Syrians, including members of the security forces, have rejected the horrific actions of the Assad regime, and certainly it will not be the last."

Tens of thousands of soldiers have defected since the revolt against Assad's rule erupted in March last year, with thousands joining the rebel Free Syrian Army, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The air force had previously been seen as a loyal arm of the regime, however. Assad's father Hafez headed the service before seizing power in 1970, and air force intelligence remains one of the most feared branches of the security services.

Diplomats, meanwhile, stepped up efforts to stem the bloodshed, with Arab states demanding that Russia stop arming Syria and the United States and Britain reportedly working on a transition plan.

"Any assistance to violence must be ceased because when you supply military equipment, you help kill people. This must stop," Arab League deputy chief Ahmed Ben Hilli told the Interfax news agency.

He also called for the mandate of UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan to be revamped, and for Iran's inclusion in talks on ending the conflict.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon discussed Syria with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday on the sidelines of a conference in Rio de Janeiro, a spokesman said.

The diplomatic flurry came as British newspaper The Guardian reported that Washington and London were working on an initiative for regime change based on Annan's UN-backed plan that calls for a "Syrian-led political transition."

Reports said Britain and the United States have discussed offering Assad immunity from prosecution if he steps down as part of a political transition, but Britain's Foreign Office said "no new offer" was on the table.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, whose government retains close ties with Damascus, said any peace plan that calls for Assad to leave power and go into exile would not work because he would not quit.

"I do not think Assad will be sitting down at the negotiating table," said Lavrov, pointing to the results of a widely criticised May 7 parliamentary election which he said showed a majority still backed the Syrian leader.

In the latest bloodshed, 119 people were killed on Thursday, among them 66 civilians and 43 government troops, the Syrian Observatory said.

"This has been one of the bloodiest days in Syria since the anti-regime revolt broke out in March last year," Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

At least 13 civilians were killed in the central city of Homs and another two unidentified people died in nearby Qusayr, the Observatory told AFP.

The bombardment aborted two attempts by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Red Crescent to evacuate trapped civilians, but the agencies vowed to try again on Friday.

"Unfortunately, a second attempt, which we carried out in coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross, has failed," the Red Crescent's Khaled Erksoussi said.

Hundreds of people are believed to be trapped in the historic heart of Syria's third-largest city, unable to flee or find shelter because of the fighting, the Geneva-based agency said.

According to a new toll on Thursday, the Observatory said at least 10,480 civilians, 3,715 soldiers and 830 army defectors have been killed since March 2011.

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