Leading Defector Tried Reconciliation

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The leading Sunni defector was stopped from arranging a
reconciliation with the opposition to Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Syrian Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlas said he was stopped from implementing an
agreement that would end Sunni rebel violence in the suburbs of Damascus.
Tlas, who brought his family out of Syria to the West, asserted that the
Assad regime preferred to fight and destroy rather than reconcile with the
opposition.