Colonel Riad al-Asaad says the regime launched a brutal crackdown last week on the town of Rastan to try to capture him and his comrades who battled against the military.
The army retook the town after five days of heavy fighting.
Speaking to the Associated Press on Wednesday over the telephone, Assad said he defected from the army in July after refusing orders to shoot protesters. Syrian military defections have since increased. Asaad says the Free Syrian Army now has more than 10,000 defectors and is becoming the most serious challenge to President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
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