Defector reveals the truth about Syria's war against the people

Guardian:

Wasid, a young Syrian conscript, set off for the town of Deraa in late April filled with the zeal of a soldier going to war. "We were going to fight terrorists," he said.

But less than a day after arriving in Deraa, Wasid was making plans to defect.

The Syrian regime has cast the uprising as a conflict between a loyal military and a large and highly mobile group of heavily armed foreign-backed insurgents, roaming the country attempting to ignite sectarian strife.

Over three hours in an Istanbul safe house, the 20-year-old soldier described events in the southern town where the wave of dissent that has swept Syria first broke out. The young defector's account starkly contradicts the official narrative.

"As soon as we got there, the officers told us not to shoot at the men carrying guns. They said they [the gunmen] were with us. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It had all been lies."

In the month they were stationed there, neither Wasid nor any of his colleagues saw any demonstrators with weapons in Deraa or the nearby town of Izraa.

And instead of confronting armed insurgents, the unit was given orders to shoot protesters.

"I could not believe what I was hearing – to leave alone the people carrying guns. It shocked me," he said. "We are soldiers and soldiers do not shoot at civilians."

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There is more. I think most of the soldiers who have been shot and killed were shot by the army for refusing to kill the civilians. That is the reason many have chosen to desert the Syrian army and its illegal orders.