Syria military police chief defects to opposition

BEIRUT (AFP) - Syria's military police chief has announced his defection from President Bashar al-Assad's regime, accusing the army of having turned into "murderous gangs," in a video posted online.

"I, General Abdel Aziz Jassem al-Shallal, commander of Syrian military police, announce that I am defecting from the regime army, to join the people's revolution," the military-clad officer said.

"The army has deviated from its essential mission, which is to protect the country, and it has morphed into murderous, destructive gangs," Shallal charged in the video circulated by opposition activists on Wednesday.

"The destruction of cities and villages, and the commission of massacres against our people, defenceless civilians, who took to the streets calling for freedom" prompted Shallal to defect, he said.