Rebel fighters watch as smoke rises after Syrian government forces fired an artillery round at a rebel position during heavy clashes in the Jedida district of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday (AP photo)

Numbers are difficult to obtain, but analysts estimate that since the start of the uprising against President Bashar Assad in March 2011, tens of thousands of largely low-ranking members of the 300,000-strong armed forces have defected or deserted.

The Free Syrian Army (FSA), which acts as an umbrella for a multitude of different factions, was set up in August 2011 by defectors based in Turkey and led by former air force colonel Riyadh al-Asaad.

But for fighters and mid-level commanders risking their lives every day on the frontline, their nominal superiors are little more than cowards who abandoned their country and whose experience would be better served in battle.

“They’re bastards,” said Abu Mohammed, a former major in the Syrian army, when asked why the FSA leaders live comfortably in Turkey.

“No one in Syria respects these commanders because when officers defect they should be fighting, not sitting over there. They drink tea and smoke nargile and just talk, just talk,” he chuckled.

Abu Mohammed said he fled to Belgium five years ago because he was fed up by the preferential treatment given to members of the Alawite sect who dominate the Assad regime, and returned to Syria after the uprising began.

Of the 350-400 men he claimed to command in the fight for Syria’s city of Aleppo, only three are defected officers. He said there is no overall FSA leader in Syria and that “this is the problem”.

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