3 more Syrian pilots defect to Jordan

A Syrian member of the opposition,  living in Jordan revealed that three more Syrian fighter pilots have defected from the state army troops and joined pilot Colonel Hussein Hamadeh (54), who was granted  political asylum in Jordan last Thursday, after he landed there with his MiG 21 fighter jet. The Syrian opponent, who asked to remain anonymous, said the three pilots crossed the Jordanian borders in the region of Chiek a few hours after Hamadeh landed in Jordan, while Hamadeh's family of a wife and five children, crossed the border at the same point, days before Hamadeh defected. In another development, The British embassy in Amman denied reports which claim that Britain has offered asylum to the Syrian pilot. "Britain has welcomed Jordan's decision to offer political asylum to Colonel Hamadeh, but we have never held any talks with him to move to Britain," said the embassy's spokesperson. The London based newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi reported Saturday that Britain has offered asylum to Hamadeh. Meanwhile, the defected Colonel has denied he ever participated in air raids against civilian targets in Syria. In a message posted on his Facebook page he said: "This was my first sortie since the revolution broke out, I was waiting for this chance to defect. We were ordered to attack some targets in Deraa." Hamadeh added that six jets were to participate in the raid, and he was not the only pilot to defect. "Six jets with six pilots were supposed to carry out the mission. I was not the only one who defected, another hero was supposed to follow me to Jordan, but the regime's anti-aircraft forces have shot down his jet, which the media reported as a Turkish one," said Hamadeh."