By IANS,
Ankara : Thirty-three Syrian army defectors, including a general and two colonels, have fled to Turkey, Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency reported Monday.
The defectors and their family members were sent to a camp in Apaydin in southern Hatay province, RIA Novosti said.
More than 33,000 Syrians have fled to Turkey since violence broke out in Syria in March last year, according to Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority.
According to the UN, around 10,000 people have been killed in clashes between Syrian government troops and opposition forces.
Tensions between the former allies have risen after Syria downed a Turkish military jet which it said had violated Syrian air space last week.
Turkey said the plane, which was on a training flight to test the country’s radar capabilities, had unintentionally crossed into Syria’s air space, but was inside international air space when it was shot down.