Syrian defectors

Firas Mustafa Tlass (Arabic: فِرَاس مُصْطَفَى طَلَاس‎, Firās Musṭafā Ṭalās) (born 20 August 1960) is a Syrian business tycoon and a member of a significant Sunni family who had close relations with former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, but defected to the rebels during the Syrian Civil War.

Manaf Tlass or Manaf Tlas (Arabic: مناف طلاس‎; born 1964) is a former Brigadier General of the Syrian Republican Guard and member of Bashar al-Assad's inner circle who defected in 2012.

Mustafa Abdul Qadir Tlass (Arabic: مُصْطَفَى عَبْد الْقَادِر طَلَاس‎, Musṭafā ʿAbd al-Qādir Ṭalās; 11 May 1932 – 27 June 2017) was a Syrian senior military officer and politician who was Syria's minister of defense from 1972 to 2004. He was part of the four-member Regional Command during the Hafez Assad era.

Abdul Halim Khaddam ( AHB-dəl hə-LEEM kə-DAM; Arabic: عبد الحليم خدام‎; born 15 September 1932) is a Syrian politician who was Vice President of Syria and "High Commissioner" to Lebanon from 1984 to 2005. He was long known as a loyalist of Hafez Assad, and held the strongest Sunni position within the Syrian government until he resigned his positions and left the country in 2005 in protest against certain policies of Hafez's son and successor, Bashar Assad.

Talal (Ali) Silo (طلال سلو; also transliterated Telal Silo, Talal Sallou) was the official Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) spokesperson until his surrender or defection to Turkey in November 2017. His departure marked the first major defection among the SDF's top ranks.

Naser al-Hariri (Arabic: نصر الحريري‎) is a former member of the People's Council of Syria from Daraa. Along with fellow parliamentarian Khalil al-Rifaei, also from Daraa, he resigned from his seat in protest at the "continued killings of protesters during the 2011 protests in Syria".

Mohammad Bassam Imadi (born 1950) is the former Syrian ambassador to Sweden, who defected from the Bashar al-Assad government in 2011 and became a member of the opposition Syrian National Council.

Riad Mousa al-Asa'ad (Arabic: رياض موسى الأسعد‎, born 1961) is a former military commander of the Free Syrian Army. He was a former Colonel in the Syrian Air Force who defected in July 2011.

Muhammed Ahmed Faris (Arabic: محمد أحمد فارس, Muḥammad ʾAḥmad Fāris; born 26 May 1951, died 19 April 2024) was a Syrian military aviator and astronaut. He was the first Syrian and the second Arab in space.

Khaled al-Ayoubi is a former Syrian diplomat. On 30 July 2012, he informed the Britain's Foreign Office that he left his post as Chargé d'Affaires in the Syrian embassy in London. He was the most senior Syrian diplomat left in London after the British government forced embassy staff to leave in May. Al-Ayoubi claimed that he left because he was unable to: "represent a regime that has committed such violent and oppressive acts against its own people", according to an interview. His departure was characterized as another blow to the Syrian government. It is reported that both he and his family are at a safe location in London.