Once a childhood friend, now a defected general, who is Manaf Tlass?

The defection of the General Manaf Tlass may be the hardest blow that has hit Syrian President Bashar Assad since the beginning of the revolution. His childhood friend left the Syrian territory for Turkey, and will be headed for Paris.          

In this context, all the Western and Arab newspapers agreed on the fact that this defection is the highest in the Syrian regime; especially that Tlass is a member of the inner-circle of President Assad serving as commander of an elite Republican Guard unit. He was also a member of the central committee of the Baath party. However, the most important thing is that Manaf Tlass is the son of former Defense Minister Mustafa Tlass.                        

Tlass, said to be in his mid-40s, is a member of Syria's most powerful Sunni family, which has given its support to the Assad's Alawite clan for decades. This family was not able to control the fast developments of the revolution that took place in its hometown of Rastan. This town witnessed the deadliest confrontations between the regime forces and the Free Syrian Army, as well as many protests calling for the fall of Assad’s regime.           

The defection of Manaf Tlass did not surprise many people; especially that he was far from the political scene for a year for failing in the mediation attempts between the regime and the opposition.