Syrian legislator from Aleppo defects to Turkey

AMMAN - Reuters

Syrian people leave the city center after shelling by Syrian government forces in the center of Syria's restive northern city of Aleppo late on July 26, 2012. AFP photo

A Syrian parliamentarian representing the northern of province Aleppo said today she has defected to Turkey, becoming the first member of the rubberstamp assembly elected in May and dominated by President Bashar al-Assad's Baath Party to defect.
 
"I have crossed to Turkey and defected from this tyrannical regime ... because of the repression and savage torture against a nation demanding the minimum of rights," Ikhlas al-Badawi told Sky News Arabia.
 
Opposition sources Syrian troops and armor are amassing around the northern city of Aleppo, Syrian's main commercial and industrial hub, to crush armed resistance to Assad that has been gathering momentum following a military crackdown on street demonstrations against his rule.