The Failed Defection of Salman Duwaier
A glimpse into the complex reality of defecting and regime 'loyalty'
Defections from the regime’s security services were a foundational process for Syria’s revolution. The trickle of defectors in early 2011 became a wave by late 2012, simultaneously weakening the army and strengthening the armed opposition. With so much time now separating these years and the present, it can be difficult to contextualize how much the war had expanded prior to the peak of defections. For example, the first half of 2012 saw the first major regime military operations in Homs city, the rise and fall of a Latakia armed movement, the start of major operations in Damascus city by both sides, and the beginning of the opposition’s wave of victories in Aleppo and Idlib.
Yet it was not until after all of this that tens of thousands more soldiers succeeded in defecting. Why were there so many ‘late’ defectors, and what were their experiences like in those interim years before they were able to escape? Each defectors’ personal story is unique, yet many bear a key similarity - the decision to defect came long before the actual defection took place. Some soldiers delayed their defection because they wanted to secure their family’s escape to free areas as well, others waited as they attempted to foment larger defections within their own units, and many officers remained in their posts in order to assist opposition activists and fighters from within the regime. Still, there are other soldiers who struggled to escape due to familial pressure or fears that the regime would catch them. Here is a story of one such man from Suwayda, as told by a defector from the same governorate who tried for over a year to secure his defection until the last moment, when the two men met on opposite sides of the battlefield. The author ends the account with a appeal to the families of Suwayda that the Druze community (of which he belongs) should not sacrifice its sons for the sake of Bashar al-Assad, and that the FSA is not asking the Druze to join them simply to leave the army and return to their homes.
“Why did you, Salman, refuse to defect? The story of First Lieutenant Salman Duwaier.....***Abu Khaled Al-Nashmi.***
Salman Duwaier was an officer in the 18th Tank Division and was in the 134th Brigade since the beginning of the revolution. I was one of those who investigated his news. I heard that he was one of the most vehement opponents of this regime and this army. Events wanted us to distance ourselves from each other and I lost contact with him. I defected from this army and I lost contact with all the officers who were still serving in it. After more than 5 months, I went to Idlib. After that, First Lieutenant Imran Mahna came and we talked for a long time. I asked him about First Lieutenant Salman. He said that he was at a checkpoint in the central prison in Idlib. I asked him why he had not defected yet. He told me that he was in contact with him and that Salman had tried more than once, but there was something preventing him, his fear or his family. I told him to call him and tell him that we are together and that we are in a psychological comfort and reassurance that we have never felt in our lives. We do not want you to fight with us, but we want to protect you because the battle to liberate the prison is near. And indeed, we contacted him 10 times, I swear to God 10 times, and he is still thinking, but we concluded that his fear of his family is greater than his fear of the regime.
We had a group of revolutionaries close to him, we told them and gave them his name. They told us that he only had to walk 50 meters and we would wait for him. We would get him out and bring him to you. We contacted him and told him that we were close to him, but he also refused out of fear and not lack of conviction. He told us that his father had undergone a heart operation a while ago and that he was afraid for him. We told him, “Brother, you might die because the battle is in a few days. Go out and you will return to your family.” But we received the message and understood from it that his family was against his defection or that he was afraid. But the important thing is that he did not come, knowing that the last contact was 3 days before the prison was stormed, and the prison was surrounded. But we had revolutionaries we know and they said that we are ready to break the rules if this officer really wants to defect, but he did not show any desire, even though he is an opponent and hates this army. He tried to defect once and returned to the army again. He arrived in Daraa during one of the vacations, but he returned to his work in the ranks of this army. I know him well, he was one of the opponents.
The prison was stormed and Salman was killed during the war and he died because during the fighting no one knows the other and no one can distinguish and I did not participate with them in this battle but I knew that his fate was death. We tried with all our effort and with all our energy to protect him but he did not help himself first before he helped us. Why, Salman, did you refuse to defect? Why did you not believe us? Why, Salman’s father and mother, did you stand in his face? He feared for you from security and you did not fear for him from death. Your son died and you postponed his defection and unfortunately he was buried on the pages of the shabiha and today he is an honorary captain. This is what the regime gave him, an honorary rank and a picture for his family. Hang it in your guesthouse and write under it (You were martyred, my son, and our fear killed you).
My people in my governorate, Salman’s story is not the first nor the last. Most of your sons in this army saw the truth and knew that there is no escape from death because the regime distributed them in checkpoints and left them to their fate without asking about a single one of them. They are just soldiers and numbers for an emperor who only cares about his name and himself, who is ready to offer his wife and children to death in exchange for his throne, but you are the ones who frighten your children from defecting. You are preventing them out of fear for yourselves. You are the ones who kill them, not the revolutionaries. You presented them to certain death out of fear for security and the defunct regime. You were afraid that the security assistant would come and interrogate you. You were afraid of this, but you were not afraid for your children from dying. Your children are not guilty. You are responsible for them. You believe, according to your thinking, that you have nothing to do with this war. Fine, if you have nothing to do with this war, withdraw your children and step aside and protect them from death. You need them more than Bashar and his army. Do not offer them to achieve the goals of the dogs over their blood. Take a stand to protect your children. Fight your sheikhs who declared that the sons of the province must join the army to defend the homeland. Tell them to shut up and be quiet. Our children are not a toy in your hand or in the hand of your emir. A drop of blood from one of our children is more honorable than all of you, even a shoe of one of our sons is more precious than you. We do not want your sons to join the Free Army. We want to protect them. We want them to leave this regime and return to you and avoid fighting. You are not defending the homeland. You are defending a seat that has nothing to do with you. Rather, for 40 years, this seat has been sitting on our chests. Do not pay the price of its remaining in power with the blood of your sons. I remind you that you are the ones who killed your sons, not us. Think carefully. You will know that you alone are responsible for the death of your sons.”
1st Lieutenant Salman Duwaier was killed during the liberation of Idlib Central Prison on January 25, 2013 after serving in the army for five years. He had graduated as an armored vehicle specialist from the Military College in 2008 and joined the 18th Division’s 134th Brigade. During the war, his unit fought in Talbiseh and Homs City in 2011 and early 2012, then deployed to the Aleppo countryside briefly before establishing positions in Kafr Takharim and Armanaz in April 2012. His unit then withdrew to al-Mastouma Camp following the liberation of the two towns in July. He was then stationed at Idlib Central Prison until his death.
