THE SYRIAN COLONEL SITS CROSS-legged on a patch of moist soil. He's wearing a borrowed plaid shirt and pale green trousers and is surrounded by dozens of men who fled the besieged northern city of Jisr al-Shoughour to an orchard a few hundred meters from the Turkish border. He says his name is Hussein Harmoush and shows me a laminated military-ID card indicating his name and title. Everyone around calls him muqaddim-Arabic for his rank. A colonel with the 11th Armored Division of the army's 3rd Corps, the 22-year military veteran says he burned his uniform in disgust more than a week ago, starting with the epaulets. He had to defect, Harmoush says, to take "responsibility for protecting civilians in Jisr al-Shoughour." His only regret: "I was late in taking this decision. I feel like I am responsible for the deaths of every single martyr in Syria."
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